CUCUBALUS 
81 
broadest near the top, slightly umbilicate ; segments short, ciliate, obtuse. Petals pale yellow, 
bifid, with two coronal scales. Gynophore about as long as the capsule. 
By British botanists this has been greatly confused with the two varieties of S. nutans, the confusion sometimes apper- 
taining to one variety and at other times to the other. 
Not indigenous, and apparently now rare or extinct ; Kent. 
Southern France, central Europe, southern Europe; northern Africa; Asia Minor to Persia. 
9. SILENE OTITES. Spanish Catchfly. Plate 78 
Otites taberni sive sesamoides parv. mascipula salamantica minor How Phyt. 86 (1650); Lychnis viscosa 
flore muscosa C. Bauhin Pinax 206 (1671); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 340 (1724). 
Silene otites Wibel Prim. FI. Wertham. 241 (1799); Smith FI. Brit. 469 (1800)!; Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 
63 (1868); Rouy FI. France iii, 139 (1896); Cucubalus otites L. Sp. PL 415 (1753). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 85, as Cucubalus otites ; FI. Dan. t. 518, as C. otites ; Reichenbach Icon, vi, t. 289, 
fig- 5094- 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 78. (a) Lower part of plant. (b) Middle part. ( c ) Flowering branches. 
( d) Staminate flowers. ( e ) Ovaries. (/ ) Mature capsules. Cambridgeshire (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 114; Fries, xi, 40; Reichenbach, 2099; Wirtgen, vii, 265. 
Perennial. Root vertical, very long. Shoot pubescent below, viscous 
Lower leaves narrowly spathulate, rather acute, up to 7 — 8 cm. long and 
1 — 2 broad. Stem-leaves linear. Inflorescence subverticillate. Pedicels slender, 
longer than the calyx. Flowers 4 — 5 mm. in diameter, erect, hemi-dioecious ; 
June to September. Calyx about 4 mm. long, tubular-obconical, slightly umbili- 
cate, veins not anastomosing, segments rounded-obtuse, not contracted above 
when in fruit, glabrous. Petals pale yellow, linear oblong, entire, coronal 
scales absent. Stamens exserted. Gynophore short. Stigmas 2 — 5, exserted. 
Capsule slightly longer than the calyx, about 6 — 8 mm. long and 4 — 5 broad. 
Seeds subreniform, punctulate, flat on the two faces, with a deep dorsal groove. 
above. Stem erect. 
Map 34. Distribution of 
S. otites in England 
This is one of the characteristic plants of the non-acidic parts of the very light, sandy soils of western Norfolk, western 
Suffolk, and eastern Cambridgeshire. Other characteristic plants of this remarkable district are Herniaria glabra var. vera, 
Scleranthus perennis, Silene conica, Holosteum umbellatum (perhaps extinct), Medicago falcata, M. falcata x sativa (= x M. 
sylvestris), Veronica verna, V. triphylla , V. spicata, Artemisia campestris, Carex ericetorum, Phleum boehmeri , Ornithogalum 
umbellatum , and Muscari racemosum. 
Locally abundant, on the light, sandy soils of western Suffolk, western Norfolk, and eastern 
Cambridgeshire, occurring only on grassland where the soil is not acidic. 
Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, southern Europe ; Asia. 
Genus 16. Cucubalus 
Cucubalus [Tournefort Inst. 339, t. 176 (1700) emend.;] L. Sp. PI. 414 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 192 
(1754) emend.; Gaertner Fruct. i, 376, t. 57 (1788); Gray Nat. Arr. Brit. Plants ii, 645 (1821); Gastro-Silene 
Williams in Journ. Bot. xxxii, 13 (1894) as a subgenus. 
Closely allied to Silene, differing chiefly in the strongly inflated and submembranous calyx with 
about 20 veins anastomosing below, and the petals imbricate in bud. Styles 3 — 5. 
About 20 species ; Europe ; Asia ; America. 
Sections of Cucubalus 
Section I. Behen (see below). Fruit dry. 
[Section II. *Eu-Cucubalus (p. 84). Fruit succulent.] 
Section I. BEHEN 
Behen [Moench Meth. PI. 709 (1794) partim, as a genus ;] Grenier et Godron Ft. France i, 202 (1848); 
Rohrbach Monogr. 66 (1868) as a subgenus; Rouy et Foucaud Ft. France iii, 102 (1896). 
For character, see above. 
British species of Behen 
1. C. behen (p. 82). Inflorescence many-flowered. Bracts membranous. Seeds with acute tubercles. 
2. C. maritimus (p. 83). Inflorescence few-flowered. Bracts green. Seeds with flattened tubercles. 
11 
M. III. 
