SILENE SPECIOSA. 
(Showy Catchfly.) 
Class. 
DECANDRIA, 
Order. 
TRIGYNIA. 
Xatttr.-t Onlcr. 
SILENACEjE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx tubular, five-toothed, 
naked. Petals five, bifid, unguiculate, usually crowned 
in the throat with as many bifid scales. Stamens ten. 
Styles three. Capsules three-celled at the base, ending 
in six teeth at the apex. — Don's Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character. — Plant an evergreen herba- 
ceous perennial. Stems about afoot high, hairy. Leaves 
opposite, sessile, long and lanceolate, somewhat obtuse. 
Flowers axillary and terminal. Calyx hairy. Corolla 
deep scarlet, with each of the five lobes cut into four 
others, viz.,— two larger onesin the centre, and a small 
one on either side of these. 
This very beautiful plant appears, at first sight, to be merely a very well- 
grown specimen of the pretty S. laciniata, a species which is now too rarely seen in 
cultivation, as its numerous flowers look like so many brilliant scarlet stars. When 
more closely examined, however, it will be seen that S. speciosa differs materially 
in some respects, while its character is altogether better than that of S. laciniata, 
and its flowers have a deeper and more splendid hue. 
We have noticed it in several of the London nurseries ; but the one from which 
we procured our figure is that of Mr. Knight, King's Road, Chelsea, where the 
plant has flowered well all the late summer. As the specimens which have come 
under our observation have not been finely grown, we may remark, with certainty, 
that S. speciosa is a stronger habited plant, has larger leaves, and finer flowers than 
S. laciniata. The latter, too, instead of having the segments cut into four or more 
lobes of nearly equal length, have them divided regularly into two larger principal 
segments, each of which has a very small serrature on the outside, near its base. 
How the plant was brought to this country, or from whence it was originally 
obtained, we have not been informed. It got into the London nurseries through 
some of the Continental collections. 
In respect to culture, it will rank with S. laciniata as a tender herbaceous plant, 
requiring much care to preserve its evergreen foliage from prejudicial dampness 
throughout the winter. It should be grown in a porous and very fibrous soil, 
through which water can freely run at any time. Loamy earth is the most appro- 
priate ; but a little heath-mould that is full of the small decaying roots of heath or 
