72 
MELANDRYUM 
The hybrid forms are distinguishable from the white-flowered form of M. dioicum which may be a true albino subvariety, 
the occurrence of which is to be expected. The so-called red-flowered forms of M. album are open to suspicion of being of 
hybrid origin. 
On the subject of the genetics of M. album , M. dioicum , and M. album x dioicum , the following additional references are 
given: — Gaertner Vers, und Beob. iiber die Bastard, im Pflanzenr. Stuttgart (1900); Godron in M'em. Acad. Stanilas 345 
(1865); de Vries in Ber. Bot. Ges. xviii, 87 (1900); Bateson and Saunders in Rep. Evol. Comm. Roy. Soc. i, 15 (1901); 
de Correns in Ber. Bot. Ges. xxi, 145 (1903); Price in Journ. Bot. xlviii, 333 (1910); Shull in Bot. Gaz. xlix, no (1910); 
lii, 329 (1911); liv, 120 (1912); Correns Die Vererb. und Best, des Geschl. p. 19, Berlin (1913). 
Somerset, Dorset, Kent, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Cheshire, Carnarvonshire, and doubtless 
elsewhere. 
Scandinavia, Germany, Holland, France, central Europe, and doubtless elsewhere. 
2. MELANDRYUM DIOICUM. Red Campion. Plate 69 
Lychnis sylvestris rnbello fore Gerard Herball 382 (1 597) 5 Ray Syn. ed. 3, 339 (1724). 
Melandryum dioicum Schinz und Thellung in Bull. Herb. Boiss. sdr. 2, vii, 179 (1907) non Cosson et 
Germain; Lychnis dioica L. Sp. PI. 437 (1753) partim ; Miller Gard. Diet. ed. 8, no. 3 (1768); L. dioica var. 
rubra Weigel FI. Pom. 85 (1769); L. diurna Sibthorp FI. Oxon. 145 (1794); L. dioica var. a Smith FI. Brit. 495 
(1800); L. sylvestris Rafn Damn. Holst. FI. 790 (1800); M. sylvestre Roehling Deutschl. FI. ed. 2, ii, 274 (1812); 
Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, 97 (1896); M. diurnum Fries in Bot. Notiser 170 (1842); in Flora xxvi, 123 
(1843); M. rubrum Garcke Deutschl. FI. ed. 4, 55 (1858); Silene diurna Godron in Mem. Soc. Sc. Nancy 171 
(1846); Grenier et Godron FI. France i, 217 (1847); Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 69 (1864). 
Perennial. Shoot with soft eglandular hairs. Stem more or less erect, often rather weak, 
branched above. Leaves dark green, broader and of thinner texture than in M. album. Laminae 
of the ground-leaves broadly lanceolate or elliptical, rapidly tapering to the long winged petiole, 
sometimes undulate, acute ; of the stem, broadly elliptical or ovate, suddenly acuminate. Bracts like 
the leaves but smaller. Inflorescence dichasial. Peduncles usually elongate. Flowers dioecious, very 
rarely monoclinous, expanded during the whole day ; May to autumn. Calyx with 5 teeth, reddish 
in colour, teeth triangular-acute and shorter than in M. album ; of the staminate flowers cylindrical, 
10-nerved ; of the pistillate flowers more dilated, with up to 20 nerves, nerves anastomosing. Petals 
purplish-red, rarely white ; limb bifid, coronal scales oblong, claw exserted and auricled. Stamens 10, 
represented by minute staminodes round the base of the ovary in the pistillate flowers. Stigmas 5, 
long, hairy. Ovary almost sessile, represented in the staminate flowers by a slender thread a few 
mm. long terminating the gynophore. Capsule spherical or broadly oval, thin-walled, dehiscing by 
10 apical teeth which roll completely back when dry. Seeds 00, brown, acutely tuberculate. 
The flowers are mainly pollinated by day-flying Lepidoptera, and are also visited by bees and hover-flies. 
A considerable excess of pistillate plants occurs in nature, as shown by several countings and experiments. For example, 
Strasburger (in Biol. Ce?itralbl. xx, 657 (1900)) found among 14,000 plants near Bonn that the ratio of pistillate plants to 
staminate plants was about as 128 is to 100. 
The staminate plants continue flowering far into autumn, sometimes even flowering in winter. 
Monoclinous flowers occur very rarely: their hereditary behaviour has been investigated by Shull {Bot. Gaz. xlix, no 
( I 9 I °))- 
Both M. dioicum and M. album are frequently attacked by the smut Ustilago violacea whose spores replace the pollen 
of the anthers, causing a dingy violet stain on the petals. The presence of this fungal parasite causes a slight reduction in 
the size of the flowers. In staminate plants no other noteworthy change is produced ; but in pistillate plants the attack of 
the fungus gives rise to a greater or less reduction in size or even to abortion of the ovary and stigmas, and causes the 
normally rudimentary staminodes to form stamens which however only serve to provide a receptacle for the spores of the 
fungus. This phenomenon has been investigated by many writers : see especially Magnin in Ann. Soc. Bot. Lyon. 203 
(1889) and Strasburgher in Biol. Centralb. xx, 657 (1900). 
(a) M. dioicum var. villosum Compton in Moss Camb. Brit. FI. iii, p. 72 ; M. sylvestre var. villosum 
Celakowsky Prodr. FI. Bohm. 513 (1875). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1579, as Lychnis dioica flore rubro ; Curtis FI. Lond. i, 90, as L. dioica ; FI. 
Dan. t. 2172, as L. sylvestris ; Reichenbach Icon, vi, t. 304, fig. 5126, as L. diurna. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 6 p. ( a ) Portion of barren shoot. (b) Lower leaf. (c) Branch with pistillate 
flowers, (d) Branch with staminate flowers. ( e ) Petal. (/) Capsule with calyx adherent, (g) Capsule with 
calyx taken off. Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 2026, 2026 bis, as Silene diurtia\ Flor. Exsicc. Austr.-Hung. 522, as L. dioica ; Fiori et 
Beguinot (FI. Ital. Exsicc. ser. 2), 1271, as L. rubra\ v. Hayek (FI. Stir. Exsicc.), 1146 (with white flowers); 
Reichenbach, 2291, as Lychnis nemoralis ; Willkomm (It. Hisp. Sec.), 27, as M. sylvestre ; Herb. FI. Ingric., vi, 
99, as M. sylvestre. 
