164 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
shaped downy leaves and very small pale yellow flowers, which are 
quite destitute of fragrance. 
Amongst the more showy plants of the month due mention 
must be made of the White Campion, Lynchnis dioica or L. vesper- 
tina, which, though usually white, yet varies in colour considerably. 
It is not only conspicuous by its bold habit and beauty, but is an 
extremely interesting plant, because hypothetically as a member of 
the Carnation family, the flowers should always contain both stamens 
and pistils ; whereas we usually find the stamens in one flower and 
the pistils in another. In the language of botany the plant is 
disecious. Occasionally, however, both stamens and pistils occur in 
the same flower. 
The Lychnis may be allowed to introduce us to the Carnation 
family at large, and it is quite time to hunt for Wild Pinks, Catch- 
flies, Corn-cockles, Pearlworts, Sandworts, and Stitchworts, though 
many of them will be bright with flowers until September. The 
Carnations and Pinks the florists cultivate are, generally speaking, 
double flowers, which the botanists have the temerity to call 
“ monsters,” in return for which compliment to their favourites the 
florists pretend that all the beautiful flowers belong to themselves 
and the ugly ones to the botanists. Well, the Wild Clove, Dianthus 
caryophyllus, belongs to the botanists, certainly, and they need not 
be ashamed of it on the score of beauty ; the florists, with all their 
grand possessions, cannot beat it. It is the Clove Gilliflower, or 
July flower of the old gardeners, and doubtless is the parent of the 
Carnation and Picotees of the garden. It is probably not a true 
native, but has found its way here from the continent, the southern 
slopes of the Alps being, without doubt, its original home. Here 
it is almost confined to the south-eastern parts of England, where it 
seeks out for itself the grim castles and crumbling walls of the 
oldest cities, the keep of Rochester Castle having long been famous 
amongst English botanists for this glorious wilding and its boon 
companion the Snapdragon. The Chedder or Mountain Pink, D. 
ccesius , is a rare gem met with on the cliffs at Cheddar, in Somerset, 
one of the best possible resorts for a botanical tourist. It is a sweet 
little gem of a cheerful pink colour. The Soapwort, Saponariu 
officinalis; the Corn-cockle, Agrostemma githago ; and the stemless 
Catchfly, Silene acaulis, may be found in the garden, perhaps, if 
not in the field. But we shall scarcely find, under the care of the 
cultivator, that somewhat coarse but handsome plant, the Bladder 
Campion, Silene inflata, which the children might have been seen 
eating the leaves of a month ago, when they tasted like green peas. 
This may be known by its pouch-like calyx. The Ragged Robin, or 
Cuckoo-flower, Lychnis Jlos cuculi, you are so likely to know with- 
out help from books, that it is mentioned here only because its 
beauty forbids silence. 
But let us look for humbler relations of the Carnation than these. 
The Great Stitchwort, or Satin flower, Stellaria holostea, has been 
already referred to as one of the gems of the hedgerow. On the dry 
pastures and heaths w e may find its poor relation, the little Stitch- 
wort, S. graminea, which has very narrow leaves, and pretty white 
