68 
VISCARIA 
British species of Viscaria 
1. V. vulgaris (see below). Stem more or less viscid. Petals emarginate. Seeds with 
acute tubercles. 
2. V. alpina (p. 69). Stem glabrous. Petals deeply cleft. Seeds with blunt tubercles. 
1. VISCARIA VULGARIS. Catchfly. Plates 65, 66 
Muscipula angustifolia Johnson in Gerard Herball ed. 2, 601 (1636); Lychnis sylvestris viscosa rubra angusti- 
folia Parkinson Theatr. Bot. 636 (1640); Ray Cat. 202 (1670); Syn. ed. 3, 340 (1724). 
Viscaria vulgaris Roehling Deutschl. FI. ed. 2, ii, 275 (1812); G. Don Gen. Syst. i, 414(1831); Rohr- 
bach in Linnaea n.s., ii, 265 (1869); Rouy et Foucaud Ft. France iii, 99 (1896); 
Lychnis viscaria L. Sp. PI. 436 (1753)!; Smith FI. Brit. 494 (1800)!; Syme Eng. 
Bot. ii, 72 (1864); Lychnis viscosa Scopoli FI. Cam. ed. 2, i, 306 (1772); Gilibert 
FI. Lituan. iv, 171 (1782) ; nomen abortivum ; Viscaria purpurea Wimmer FI. Settles. 
ed. 2, 67 (1841); Fries in Bot. Notiser 170 (1842); Viscaria viscosa Ascherson Ft. 
Brandenb. 85 (1864); Viscaria viscaria Ascherson und Graebner FI. Nordost Flachl. 
299 (1898). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 788, as Lychnis viscaria ; FI. Dan. t. 1032, as 
L. viscaria ; Svensk Bot. t. 672, as L. viscaria ; Reichenbach Icon, vi, t. 307, fig. 5131, 
as Lychnis viscaria. 
Camb. Brit. A/, iii. Plate 65. (a) Barren shoot, (b) Flowering shoot. ( c ) Petal. 
Perthshire (E. S. M.). Plate 66. (a) Barren shoot, (b) Flowering shoot, (r) Petal. 
(d) Ovary. Wales (E. F. L.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 730, as Viscaria purpurea', Fries, xv, 38, as V. purpureo- 
alpina s. media', v. Hayek {FI. Stir. Exsicc.), 213, as V. viscosa ; v. Heurck et 
Martinis, vii, 304, as Lychnis viscaria ; Lindberg {FI. Finl. Exsicc.), 197, as 
V. viscosa', Thielens et Devos, iv, 352, as L. viscaria ; Woloszczak, 806; Herb. 
FI. Ingric. i, 101, as Viscaria vtdgaris. 
Perennial. Rhizome bearing rosettes of leaves and flowering stems. 
Stem erect, terete, unbranched, 20 — 60 cm. high, with long internodes, 
purplish above, the upper part of each internode covered with a viscous 
secretion to which small insects often adhere. Leaves — basal ones linear- 
oblong to linear-lanceolate, narrowing to the petiole, thin, with a strong 
midrib, deep green, glabrous, up to 15 cm. long and 3 — 10 mm. broad; 
stem-leaves linear to lanceolate, sessile, shortly connate, up to 10 cm. long. 
Bracts like the leaves but shorter. Inflorescence of paired opposite axillary 
dichasia, crowded towards the apex ; each cyme with a peduncle of a 
length of 5 — 20cm. Flowers with short pedicels; May and June. Calyx 
oblong-obconical, umbilicate, swollen in fruit, purplish, with short triangular 
acute teeth and 10 scarcely prominent veins ; sometimes slightly downy. Petals lilac-purple (occasionally 
white), with obovate, slightly emarginate, spreading limbs and broadly winged claws, with 2 long coronal 
ligules (one-third to half as long as the limbs). Anthers grey, exserted. Gynophore long, slightly 
shorter than the capsule. Capsule oblong-ovoid, with persistent partial septa. Seeds 00 , small, 
reniform, furrowed on the back, finely granulate, brown. 
Two forms occur, as shown in Plates 65 and 66, differing in the compactness of the inflorescence, the number of the 
flowers, and in the size and shape of the petals and coronal ligules. These require further study. 
V. vulgaris, its white-flowered form, and a form with double flowers are in cultivation. 
Chiefly on trap rocks, stony slopes, cliffs, and hill-pastures ; between 1 50 and 300 m. in districts 
having a rainfall of 100 — 200cm. per annum; Wales — Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire; Scotland — 
Kirkcudbrightshire, Roxburghshire, Edinburghshire, Fifeshire, Forfarshire, Stirlingshire, Perthshire. 
Not recorded for England or Ireland. 
Southern Scandinavia, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Russia, central Europe 
(ascending to 1400 m. in the Tyrol), southern Europe; Asia. 
vulgaris in Great Britain 
