8o 
S/LENE 
More slender and graceful and less viscid and hairy than var. smithianus. Lower leaves with 
longer petioles, laminae narrower, more gradually attenuate at the base. Stem-leaves narrower, acute. 
Inflorescence nodding. Calyx narrower, with more acute and longer segments than in var. smithianus. 
Petals pale cream-coloured, more reflexed than in var. smithianus . Gynophore about 4 mm. long. 
Capsule with more strongly reflexed teeth than var. smithianus , icro — 11*5 mm. long. Seeds greyish- 
black, with rather blunt tubercles, longer than broad, slightly larger than in var. smithianus, about 
1 '2 — 1*3 mm. long. 
This is the common British plant. 
(1 b ) j-S. nutans var. smithianus nobis; Cucubalus viscosus Hudson Ft. Angl. 163 (1762) non L., excl. diagn. 
et syn. ; S. paradoxa Smith FI. Brit. 467(1800) non L., excl. syn. Jacquin et Zannoni ; S', nutans var. /3 Smith 
Eng. Ft. ii, 297 (1824); ? S. dubia Herbich FI. Bucov. 388 (1859), non Salmon toe. cit. ; S', nutans Salmon loc. cit., 
in sensu stricto. 
leones : — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 465, as S', nutans. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 77. {a) Ground-leaves. ( b ) Flowering shoot. ( c ) Portion of stem, (d) Petal. 
Kent (J. G. McD.). 
Exsiccata : — Don, no, as S', nutans. 
A coarser, stouter, more viscid, and hairier plant than var. vulgaris. Leaves broader, less 
acute. Inflorescence less drooping. Calyx with less acute teeth. Petals white. Gynophore about 
2 "o — 2*5 mm. long, a little shorter than the capsule. Capsule with suberect teeth, 8 — 9 mm. long. 
Seeds with acute tubercles, greyish black, a little longer than broad, about 1 mm. long. 
The plant from which the plate in Eng. Bot. ed. 1, t. 465 was drawn came from Nottingham. Smith was not satisfied 
that the plant represented S. nutans , for he wrote to Sowerby that the “panicle ought to be rather more drooping and the flowers 
pointing all one way” (see Journ. Bot. xli, suppl. 31 (1903)). There can, however, be no doubt that Sowerby correctly de- 
lineated the plant he had before him and which we name S. nutans var. smithianus. Specimens sent to us by Professor Carr, 
which originally grew on the walls of Nottingham castle, belong to that variety. Don’s plant (Herb. Brit., no. no) is also 
referable to the var. smithianus , and probably came from Forfarshire, where the variety still grows, and where it was recently 
pointed out to us in situ by Mr and Mrs Corstorphine, of Arbroath. We have not been able to match this variety with any 
foreign specimens. 
The plant, according to Professor Carr (in Hit.), is now apparently extinct or nearly so in Nottinghamshire. 
The var. smithianus seems to be intermediate between our S. nutans var. vulgaris and A. nutans var. spathulifolia 
Burnat FI. Alpes-Marit. i, 213 (= S. spathulifolia Jordan in Flora 478 (1849)!); and it recalls S. nutans var. livida Otth in 
DC. Prodr. i, 378 (1824) ( =S . livida Schleicher herb.!). 
Rare; Kent, Carnarvonshire, Denbighshire, Nottinghamshire, Forfarshire, Kincardineshire. 
S. nutans is a local British plant, occurring on sand-dunes (rarely), on calcareous grassland, 
on limestone cliffs, on sandstone cliffs (rarely), and on old walls ; from the Channel Isles, Cornwall, 
and Kent northwards to Cumberland and Kincardineshire ; Wales — Carnarvonshire, Denbighshire, 
and Flintshire; not recorded for Ireland; ascending to 310m. in Derbyshire. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, southern 
Europe; northern Africa; Asia, eastwards to Japan; North America (not indigenous). 
[8. *SILENE ITALICA] 
Silene italica Persoon Syn. i, 498 (1805); Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 65 (1864) partim 1 ; Rouy et Foucaud FI. 
France iii, 145 (1868); Cucubalus italicus L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1030 (1759)!; S. patens Peete in Eng. Bot. Suppl. 
no. 2748 (1832). 
leones: — Sibthorp and Smith FI. Graeca t. 429; Jacquin FI. Austr. t. 97, as Cucubalus italicus', Peete in 
Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2748, as S. patens', Reichenbach Icon. Crit. iii, t. 292, fig. 465; Icon, vi, t. 295, fig. 5110. 
Exsiccata: — Billot, 1828; Ehrhart, 35 (PL Sal), as Cucubalus italicus-, Huter (Iter Ital. iii), 132; Lange, 
384; Noe, 17; Reichenbach, 2100. 
Shoot more or less pubescent. Stem 2 — 8 dm. high. Lower leaves spathulate, ciliate. Inflorescence 
lax. Peduncles ascending. Bracts small, linear, densely ciliate, acute. Flowers erect, often dioecious, 
opening in the evening, fragrant, about r8cm. in diameter; May to August. Calyx subcylindrical 
1 Syme’s description refers in part to S. nutans var. smithianus. 
