CARYOPHYLLACEiE. 



109 



4. Nodding Silene. Silene nutans, Linn. (Fig. 134.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 465, not good. Nottingham Catclifly.) 



Stock tufted and perennial, with a ra- 

 ther thick taproot, short, procumbent 

 barren shoots, and erect flowering stems, 

 1 to 2 feet high, more or less hoary with 

 short hairs, and usually viscid in the up- 

 per part. Lower leaves oblong-obovate, 

 pointed, narrowed into a long stalk, the 

 stem-leaves few, narrow, and sessile. 

 Flowers nodding, in a loose rather narrow 

 panicle, 3 or 5 together on short opposite 

 peduncles. Calyx tubular, 4 or 5 lines 

 long. Petals white, or greenish under- 

 neath, deeply 2-cleft, with long claws, 

 the style and stamens projecting beyond 

 the flower. 



On hilly or stony pastures, and in 

 rocky districts, over nearly the whole 

 of Europe and Russian Asia to the Arctic 

 Circle. Distributed over several parts 

 of England and southern Scotland, but 

 in some places introduced only, and not recorded from Ireland. 

 summer. 



Fig. 134. 



Fl. 



5. Small-flowered Silene. Silene gallica, Linn. (Fig. 135.) 

 {&. anglica, Eng. Bot. t. 1178.) 



A hairy, slightly viscid, much branched ££> 

 annual, 6 inches to near a foot high, Is 

 erect or decumbent at the base. Lower 

 leaves small and obovate, upper ones 

 narrow and pointed. Flowers small, 

 nearly sessile, generally all turned to 

 one side, forming a simple or forked ter- 

 minal spike, with a linear bract at the 

 base of each flower. Calyx very hairy, 

 with 10 longitudinal ribs and 5 slender 

 teeth, at first tubular, afterwards ovoid, 

 and much contracted at the top. Pe- 

 tals very small, entire or notched, pale 

 red or white. 



Probably of south European origin, 

 but now a common weed in sandy or 

 gravelly fields and waste places, espe- 



Fig. 135. 



