VISCARIA OCULATA. 
(Dark-eyed Viscaria.) 
Class. 
Order. 
DECANDRIA. PENTAGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
SILENACEJE. 
Generic Character.— cylindrical, clavated 
at the apex, five-toothed, naked. Corolla of five petals, 
nnguiculated, with scales at the throat. Stamens ten. 
Filaments filiform. Anthers two celled, dehiscing 
longitudinally. Styles naturally five. Capsule five- 
celled, very rarely three or four-celled. Seeds numer- 
ous, minute, reniform, granulated or tuberculated. 
Anthophorum long. 
Specific Character. — Plant an annual, with nu- 
merous spreading branches. Leaves ianceolate. Calyx 
tube abruptly constricted below the middle. Petals 
with a short notch, rose-coloured with a dark eye at 
the base. Capsule granulated, ovate. 
Synonymes. — Lychnis oculata, Lychnis aspera. 
Seeds of this beautiful annual were gathered two or three years ago, in the 
neighbourhood of Algiers, by Mr. Giles Manby, who presented them to the Messrs. 
Backhouse, Nurserymen, &c., at York. 
' The plant has much the character of Lychnis coeli-rosa (now Viscaria coeli-rosa ); 
but whilst that species has flowers with a much paler centre than the margins, 
those of V. oculata are just the reverse ; and the specific name was suggested by 
the dark and brilliant spot which occupies the borders of the throat. It is also 
distinguished by other, but less conspicuous features. 
The colour and size of the flowers vary considerably in different plants, some 
producing blossoms of twice the magnitude of those exhibited by others, and of 
tints graduating between a pale and watery pink, and a deep rich rose-colour. 
This natural inclination to deviate from an uniform character, might perhaps be 
turned to a useful account, by crossing the species with some of the scarlet flowering 
Lychnis. The probability of obtaining both a superiority of size, and richer colours, 
renders the experiment well worth trying. Being an annual, however, there will 
be greater hazard of acquiring an improved variety with stability of character 
when reproduced from seed. 
The remarkable fecundity of the species, and the complete maturity which the 
seeds attain in the open border, have rendered it already of comparatively easy 
attainment, almost any nurseryman being able to supply it. Our artist made the 
