?8 
SILENE 
many-flowered. Pedicels short. Flowers erect ; J une to August. Calyx elongate, umbilicate, with 
anastomosing veins. Petals rose-coloured or crimson, limb with two free subulate coronal scales. 
Gynophore glabrous, as long as the capsule. Capsule cylindrical. Seeds with flat sides, punctulate. 
Rare ; sand-dunes, hedge-banks, and cornfields ; Cornwall, Devonshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Cheshire ; adven- 
titious as a rule, and probably not indigenous at all in England. 
Naturalised in Sweden and Denmark; Germany, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, southern Europe; 
North America (not indigenous). 
5. SILENE ANGLICA. Corn Catchfly. Plate 75 
Lychnis segetum parva viscosa fiore albo Johnson Merc. Bot. 49 (1634); L. sylvestris annua angustifolia fiore 
rubente Ray Cat. Angl. 202 (1670); Viscago cerastei foliis vasculis pendulis anglica Dillenius Hort. Eltham. 417, 
t. 309 (1732). 
Silene anglica L. Sp. PI. 416 (1753)!, inch S. gallica p. 417!, et inch S’, quinquevidnera p. 417!; 
Smith FI. Brit. 465 (1800)!, inch S', quinquevidnera p. 466!; S. gallica [L. loc. cit., emend.] Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 
59 (1864); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, 119 (1896). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 86, as S. quinquevidnera ; t. 1178, as S. anglica ; Curtis FI. Lond. i, t. 85, as 
S. anglica ; Reichenbach fil. Icon, vi, t. 272, fig. 5054, as S. gallica ; fig. 5055, as S. sylvestris ; fig. 5055, as 
S. sylvestris var. quinquevidnera ; t. 273, fig. 5056, as S. anglica. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 75. (a) Upper part of plant of “var. gallica.” ( b ) Upper part of plant of “var. 
quinquevidnera .” (c) Petals of “ var. gallica ” (one enlarged), (d) Petals of “ var. quinquevulnera ” (one enlarged). 
(e) Petals of “var. rosea ” (one enlarged). Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 2627, 3341 ; Dickson, xiii, 18; xviii, 12, as S. quinquevulnera ; Fries, vii, 32; v. Heurck, 
i, 19; Huter, 1092, as S. gallica var.; Reichenbach, 497; Thielens et Devos, ii, 105 ; Todaro, 375, as S. candollii. 
Annual. Shoot hairy or pubescent. Stem erect or ascending, up to 4 dm. high. Branches 
ascending or spreading. Lower leaves narrowly obovate. Inflorescence dense or lax. Pedicels ulti- 
mately about as long as the fruiting calyx. Flowers erect ; May to September. Calyx cylindrical, 
not umbilicate at the base, with 10 prominent veins, veins not anastomosing. Petals white or rose or 
variegated with a red centre, entire to bifid, with two coronal out-growths. Stamens 10; filaments 
hairy below. Gynophore very short. Capsule cylindrical-ovoid, shorter than the calyx, sessile or very 
nearly so, capsule-teeth long. Seeds punctate, reniform, about 075 mm. in the longer diameter. 
The Jersey forms of this variable species have been investigated by Mr J. Cosmo Melvill (in Journ. Bot. xviii, 146 (1880)). 
Mr Melvill states that there are two varieties of this species, that these hybridise, and that three colour-forms of one of the 
varieties occur. Jordan and Fourret ( Brev . PI. i, 4 — 9 (1866)) distinguish several petites especes ; but the forms of southern 
England do not seem to have been compared with those which occur in France. These forms differ in habit, the degree 
of hairiness, the branching, the shape of the leaves, the size and colour of the petals, the shape of the coronal scales, the 
length of the gynophore, and the shape and orientation of the capsule. The species of Jordan and Fourret have been 
reduced to varieties by Rouy and Foucaud (FI. France iii). Altogether the latter authorities describe 14 French forms. 
Probably several of these occur in southern England and in the Channel Isles. Possibly the different forms are largely due 
to hybridisation and factorial segregation ; but no experiments seem to have been conducted with a view of testing this hypothesis. 
Until these numerous forms have been grown under cultural and experimental conditions, we doubt if it is possible to arrange 
them satisfactorily. 
Local; a weed of cornfields and waste places on light soils in lowland districts; from Jersey, 
Cornwall and Kent northwards to Elginshire ; Ireland, co. Galway ; adventitious in most of its stations 
in the north of England and Scotland. 
Denmark, Holland, France, central Europe, Russia, southern Europe; northern Africa; south- 
western Asia. Adventitious in most warm-temperate countries of the world, including North 
America. 
[6. *SILENE DICHOTOMA] 
Silene dichotoma Ehrhart Beitr. vii, 143 (1792)!, non Gilibert ; Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, in 
annot. (1896). 
leones: — Sibthorp and Smith FI. Graec. t. 413; Reichenbach Icon, vi, t. 280, fig. 5071. 
Exsiccata: — Ehrhart (PI. Sal.), 65; Noe, 200; Paillot (El. Sequati.), 413. 
