LYCHNIS. 



\ivgeT jlowin, whole petals fcarcely exceed the length of 

 their bell-fhaped calyx. 



6. \^.fibir'ua. Siberian Campion. Linn. Sp. PI. 626. 

 — Hairy. Leaves lanceolate. Stem forked, many-flowered. 

 Petals cloven, twice as long as the calyx. Fruit of one cell. 

 — Gathered in Siberia by Gmelin, who font it to Linnsus, 

 but it does not find a place in the Flora Siblr'ica. This has 

 greatly the habit of Silens alpejlrit above-mentioned, but is 

 all over hairy ; the petals more obtufe, and lefs deeply cloven ; 

 xhejlyks five. The root is very long and fimpic, tufted at 

 the crown, bearing numerous Jlems a fpan high, which are 

 about t«nce forked. Calyx bell-fhaped, tapering at the bafe. 

 Petals apparently reddiih. Capfule ovate, of one cell, with 

 recurved irregular teeth. 



7. L. lata. Small Portugal Campion. Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 ed. 1. V. 2. 118. — " Petals cloven. Flowers folitary. 

 Leaves linear-lanceolate, fmooth. Calyx with ten ribs." — 

 Brought from Portugal, by llie late Dr. Edward Whittaker 

 Gray, in 1778, to Kew garden, where it is faid to be a hardy 

 annual, flowering in July. If this fpecies IHU exifts, it 

 ought to be figured in fonie periodical work ; it. being greatly 

 to be wifhed that the authors of luch would prefer unpublifh- 

 ed plants to thofe already often delineated. We know of 

 no plate of this or the laft-mentioned. 



8. L. coronata. Cliinefe Lychnis. Thunb. Jap. 187. 

 Linn Syfl. Veg. ed. 14. 43J. Curt. Mag t. 223. (L. gran- 

 diflora ; Jacq. Col v. i. 149. Ic. Rir. t. 84. Hedoiia finen- 

 fis ; Lour. Cochinch. 286 ; feeHEDONA.) — Leaves elliptic- 

 lanceolate, fmooth. Flowers axillary or terminal, folitary. 

 Petals jagged — Native of China and Japan, from whence 

 Dr. Fothergill procured the plant in 1774. It flowers in 

 June or July, or later, and muft be kept in the greenhoufe 

 in winter, or at lead proteftedby extraordinary covering, if 

 left in the border. The root is perennial. Stem weak, 

 round, fmooth, two feet high. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, 

 pointed, fmooth, pale beneath. Floixiers remarkable for 

 their great fize, fharply jagged petals, and red-lead, very 

 vivid, colour. 



9. L. dmca. Red or White Field Campion. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 626.— X (red) Curt. Lond. fafc. 2. t. 32. Engl Bot. 

 t. 1579. 'B (white) Fl. Dan. t. 792. Engl. Bot. t 1580. 

 Leaves hairy. Flowers dioecious. Fruit of one cell. Crown 

 of each petal four-cleft. — A very common plant throughout 

 Europe ; the red-flo-.vered kind in hedges and fhady biifliy 

 places in fpring ; the white more ufually in fields or open 

 fituations in fummer. The letter is a llronger plant, and 

 from its evening fragrance has been called L. ve/pert'ma by 

 Dr. Sibthorp, while the former is his ^urna ; fee Fl Oxon. 

 145, 146 Both are ufually dioecious, but not invariably 

 fo. There is a blufh-coloured variety, other«-ife moil like 

 the white ; but we have found it in cultivation foon evancfcent. 

 The roots of both are perennial. Plant hairy and fomewKat 

 vifcid, two or three feet high. Stem forked. Leaves ovate 

 or lanceolate. Limb of each petal cloven half way down, 

 generally with two fmail acute lateral lobes, its crown more- 

 over confiding of two obtufe central teeth, and two r.cute 

 lateral ones. 



10. L.. apetala. Apetalous Mountain Campion Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 626. Fl. I-app. ed. 2. 150. t. 12. f. I. — Calyx in- 

 flated, longer than the petals. Stem nearly fingle-flowered. 

 — Native of the mountains of Lapland and Siberia. The 

 root is perennial. Stem, in the Lapland fpecimens, a 

 fpan high, ar.d quite fimple, fingle-flowered ; in fome of 

 Gmelin's, from Siberia, taller, v.ith from three to five 

 flowers. The whole herb is flightly downy. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, rather narrow. Flower drooping. Calyx ovale, clofed, 

 with ten rough, purplifh-brown ribs. Petals fmall and nar- 



row, with an obfolete brownifh border, entirely included, 

 along with the ftamens and piflil, in the hoUow of the calyx. 

 Capfule obtufe, of one cell. 



Lychnis, in Gardening, contains plants of the hardy, 

 herbaceous, flowery, perennial kind, of which the fpecies 

 cultivated are th(<Tcarlet lychnis (L. chalcedonica) ; the 

 red-flowered lychnis, meadow pink, or ragged robbin, ( L. flos 

 cuculi; ; the Chinefe lychnis (L. coronata) ; the vifcous lych- 

 nis, orcatchfly, (L. vifcaria) ; the rofe-flowered lychnis, wild 

 red campion, or red bachelor's buttons (L diurna) ; and the 

 white-flowered lychnis, wild white campion, or white bache- 

 lor's buttons, (L. vefpertina.) 



In the firft fort there is a variety with very double flowers, 

 of a beautiful fcarlet colour, they are produced in clofecluf- 

 ters, fitting upon the top of the Ualk ; when the roots are 

 ftrong, the clufters of flowers are very large, and make a 

 fine appearance, coming out the latter end of June, and in 

 moderate feafons continue nearly a month in beauty. 



Of the fifth fort there is a variety with double flowers, 

 cultivated in gardens by the name of red bachelor's but- 

 tons, which is an ornamental plant, and continues long in 

 flovi'er. ^ 



And the fixth fort has varieties with purple, or blufh-co- 

 loured flowers ; with quadntid petals ; with hermaphrodite 

 flowers ; with double flowers, cultivated in gardens bv the 

 name of double white bachelor's buttons. 



Method of Culture. — They may be increafed with facility 

 in the lingle forts by feed, and parting the roots ; and in the 

 double ones by dividing or flipping the roots ; and fome- 

 times by cuttings of their Ititlks. 



The feed fhould be fown in the early fpring, as in March, 

 in a bed or border of light earth, in an eailern afpect, each 

 fort feparate, raking them in hghtly, or they may be fown in 

 fmall drills. The plants come up in two or three weeks, 

 when they fhould have nccaiional waterings and hand-weed- 

 irigs : and when the plants are two or three inches high, be 

 planteu Out in beds or borders, in rows fix inches alunder, 

 watering them till frefli-iooted, letting them remain rill the 

 autumn or following fpring, when they fliould be tranfplanted 

 Nvherethey are to remain. 



Both the fingle and double may be increafed by flipping 

 the roots, but it is more particularly applicable to the double 

 fort, as they cannot with certain'y be obtained from feed : 

 tiie feafon for performing this work is the autumn after the 

 flalks decay, when the whole root may either be taken up 

 and divided into as many flips as are furnifhed with proper 

 root-fibres, or the main root Hard, and as many of the outer 

 offsets as feem convenient to be flijiped off : thefe flips, when 

 llroiig, flioidd be planted at once where they are to remain ; 

 but when rather fmall and weak, it is better to plant them 

 in nurfery rows, half a foot afunder, to remai;i a year, 

 and then tranfpiant them for good where they are to 

 Hand. 



The planting of cuttings of the ftalks is moftly praftifed 

 for.the double fcarlet fort, when it increafes but fparingly by 

 offsets of the root. It is perfoi-med in fummer, when the 

 ftalks are well advanced in growth, but before they flower, 

 or have become hard and woody. .Some of them fhould be 

 cut off clofe to the bottom, a-d divided into lengths ot four 

 or five joints, planting them in an eailerly border of rich, 

 moill. loamy earth, two thirds of their lengtli into the ground, 

 leaving only one joint or eye out, watering them direttly, and 

 repeating it occaiionally with neceflary fhade in hot weather. 

 They Will be well rooted, and form proper plants for tranf- 

 planting in the autumn. If the cuttings, as loon as planted, 

 are covered down clofe with hand-glatTes, it will greatly pro- 



mote 



