66 
L YCHN IS 
The forma nana occurs here and there over the whole range of the species. 
(p) A. githago var. hiemalis Compton in Moss Camb. Brit. FI. iii, p. 66. 
Leaves larger and broader, obtuse, young ones forming a rosette. Flowers appearing in July. 
The rosette of leaves is formed no matter whether the seeds are sown in autumn or in spring. The distinguishing 
of these two seasonal forms is due to Nathansohn (in Jahrbiich. wissensch. Bot. liii, 125 — 153 (1913)). Intermediates 
were not found wild, but were produced by artificial crossing. 
Cambridgeshire, and doubtless elsewhere. 
A weed of arable land, especially on light soils, usually associated with cereals and leguminous 
crops ; ascending in several counties to about 200 m. Recorded for all the counties of Great Britain 
except Brecknockshire, Pembrokeshire, Montgomeryshire, Merionethshire, Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, 
western Inverness-shire, Argyllshire, Hebrides, western Ross-shire, Sutherlandshire, Orkney, and 
Zetland — all hilly or northern counties. In Ireland, it is recorded for all counties except Queen’s, 
King’s, Longford, Roscommon, Leitrim, Cavan, and Monaghan — counties in which light soils are 
absent or rare. 
Europe (exc. Arctic, and ascending to 1820m. in Switzerland) and the Mediterranean region; 
Asia; South Africa (introduced); North America (introduced). 
Genus 12. Lychnis 
By R. H. COMPTON, M.A. 
Lychnis [Tournefort Inst. 333, t. 175 (1700);] L. Sp. PL 436 (1753) et Gen. PL ed. 5, 198 (1754) pro 
min. parte; Fries in Bot. Notiser 169 (1842) pro parte (hoc est E u- Lychnis) ; Rohrbach in Linnaea xxxvi, 175 
(1869); Pax in Engler und Prantl Pfianzenfam. iii, pt. 1 b, 73 (1889); Hedona Loureiro FI. Cochinch. 286 (1790); 
Coronaria Al. Braun in Flora xxvi, 367 (1843); Williams in Journ. Bot. xxxi, 170 (1893). 
Flowers monoclinous. Calyx with 5 persistent teeth and with 10 veins of which 5 are commi- 
sural. Petals 5, contorted in bud, with 2 coronal scales at the base of the limb. Stamens 10. 
Gynophore short. Stigmas usually 5, without hairs. Fruit a capsule, unilocular, with only slight 
remains of the partial septa, dehiscing septicidally by usually 5 teeth along the margins of the 
carpels. Seeds 00 in each capsule, without appendages. Embryo semicircular. 
The only British species, L. flos-cuculi, , belongs to the section Coccyganthe (Reichenbach FI. Germ. Excurs. 825 (1832) 
emend. Rohrbach in Linnaea xxxvi, 17$ (1869)) of the subgenus Coronaria ([A. Braun in Flora xxvi, 367 (1843) as a genus] 
Pax op. cit. p. 73). 
10 species, North Temperate and Arctic zones. Only British species: — L. flos-cuculi. 
I. LYCHNIS FLOS-CUCULI. Ragged Robin. Plate 64 
Armoraria pratensis mas Gerard Herball 480 (1597); L. plumaria sylvestris simplex Parkinson Parad. 253 
(1629); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 338 (1724). 
Lychnis flos-cuculi L. Sp. Pl. 436 (1753); Smith Eng. Bot. no. 573 (1799); FI. Brit. 493 (1800)!; 
Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 71 (1864); Rohrbach in Linnaea xxxvi, 181 (1869); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, 90 
(1896); Melandrynm flos-cuculi Roehling Deutsch. FI. ed. 2, 275 (1812); L. plumaria Gray Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. ii, 
649 (1821); Agrostemma flos-cuculi G. Don Gen. Syst. i, 417 (1831); Coronaria flos-cuculi Al. Braun in Flora 
369 (1843); Ascherson und Graebner FI. Nordost. Flachl. 300 (1898). 
leones : — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 573 ; Curtis FI. Lond. i, 91 ; FI. Dan. t. 590; Reichenbach Icon, vi, t. 306, fig. 5129. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 64. (a) Lower part of shoot. (b) Flowering branches. ( c ) Capsules. Jersey 
(E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 116; Lindstrom, 199, as Coronaria flos-cuculi ; FI. Exsicc. Austr.-Hung. 52; Woloszczak > 
410. 
Perennial herbaceous geophyte. Stem erect, branched only in the inflorescence, furrowed, slightly 
hispid with a few scattered hairs. Leaves glabrous or with only a few hairs, acute or obtuse, dark 
green ; basal ones forming a rosette, lanceolate or oblong-spathulate, narrowed to a petiole ; stem- 
leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate. Inflorescence a dichasium, the length of the peduncles and 
pedicels varying greatly. Bracts linear ; margin white, ciliate. Flowers drooping, nectiferous, pro- 
tandrous, about 2 — 3 cm. in diameter; May and June. Calyx campanulate, swollen round the fruit 
but clasping it tightly, with prominent purple veins ; teeth triangular, acuminate, white-margined. 
Petals deep rose-coloured (occasionally white or pale pink), deeply 4-partite, the 2 inner segments 
