SILE'NE RE'GIA. 
SPLENDID CATCHFLY. 
Class. Order. 
DECANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
SILENACE^. 
Native of 
Heig'ht. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
N. America 
2 feet. 
June, July. 
Perennial. 
in 1811. 
No. 609. 
Silene, from sialon, saliva. The name alludes 
to the saliva-like exudation of most of its species. 
Amongst the very numerous plants of the genus 
Silene, there is not, we believe, a more beautiful 
one than that which we now figure. Upwards of 
two hundred and fifty species have been described, 
of which, eleven only are natives of Great Britain. 
Of the plants comprised in the order, Silen- 
acese, of which Silene is the type, it is observed by 
Dr. Bindley, in regard to their properties, that they 
are remarkable for little except their uniform insi- 
pidity. When it is considered that they are so 
widely scattered over the globe, even from the fri- 
gid zone to the tropics, we should be led to infer 
that their properties or their utility, are not, and 
perhaps never can be, fully appreciated by man. 
It will be safest that young plants of the Silene 
regia be kept in the frame, during winter; for al- 
though it is a native of North America, it is liable 
to be destroyed when vegetation commences in the 
spring. A mixture of peat loam and sand, is conge- 
nial to its growth. May be increased from seeds, or 
by division of its roots. 
153 Don’s Syst. Bot. 1, 413. 
