52 



WEEDS. 



white point. FJowers from June to August, and found in 

 meadows and pastures in most parts of Europe. The size 

 varies much : in open, exposed situations it is short and 

 traihng ; but where drawn up among high grass, and 

 especially in woods, it is upright and a foot high. 



In permanent meadows this plant may be banished by 

 top-dressings, and in pastures of a few years' duration it 

 will yield to the effects of a careful fallowing of the land. 



16. The ''Wild-campion," or the "Lychnis" of botany, 

 is a weed of very frequent abundance on pastures formed 

 from ploughed lands. The plant belongs to the class and 

 order " Decandria Pentagynia" of Linneus, and the natural 

 order " Caryophyllese" of Jussieu. 



Generic characters. — Calyx : perianth one-leafed, oblong, 

 membranaceous, five-toothed, permanent. Corolla: petals 

 five, claws the length of the calyx, flat, margined, border 

 often cloven, flat. Stamina : filaments ten, longer than the 

 calyx, alternately shorter, each of these fixed to a claw of 

 each petal; antherse incumbent. Pistil: germen subovate; 

 styles five, awl-shaped, longer than the stamens ; stigmas 

 reflex against the sun, pubescent. Pericarp: capsule ap- 

 proaching to an ovate form, covered; one, three, or five- 

 celled, five-valved. Seeds very many, roundish. 



Essential character. — Calyx one-leaved, oblong, even. 

 Petals five, with claws and a sub-bifid border. Capsule 

 five-celled (in most one-celled). 



The " wild red campion," or the " rose-coloured Lychnis," 

 has the flowers dioicous ; capsules one-celled, roundish. 

 Root perennial, the thickness of the little finger ; white, of a 

 slightly acrid and bitter taste, furnished with numerous 

 fibres. Stalks several, upright, from one to three feet high, 

 round, hirsute, jointed, purple; the joints swelled; the 

 uppermost branches forked. 



The " common campions " are red and white in colour. They 

 are not common on permanent meadows, and they are most 

 effectually banished from ploughed pastures, by a careful 

 fallowing of the land. 



17. "Dyer's broom," or the "Genista" of botany^ is a 



