DECANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. Silene. 545 
district of South Devon, and the sands of the sea-shore at Teignmouth; 
whence, likewise, we infer, that no permanent characteristic can be 
deduced from the number of flowers in the panicle, the more or less 
cloven petals, the position of the stem, or the shape of the leaves. We 
even doubt the possibility of establishing permanent varieties in these 
plants, and are convinced that by transmutation from mere locality, 
S. inflata of pastures and way-sides becomes S. maritima in such arid 
stations as the sea-shore, and vice versa , in every intermediate gradation. 
E.) 
S. arme'ria. (Petals nearly entire, each with a double scale: flowers 
in level-topped panicles: leaves in pairs. E.) 
{E. Bot. 1398. E.)— Kniph. 8 —FI. Dan . 559 —Clus. i. 288. 1— Dod. 176. 4 
— Lob. Obs. 242. 3— If. Ox. v. 21. 26— Ger . 481. 2. 
Whole plant smooth. Stem upright. Leaves oblong, the upper heart- 
shaped. Flowers terminal, the end of the branches sub-dividing into 
forks, the forks close together. Petals notched at the end. Teeth of the 
crown acute, expanding. Linn. ( Stem with a brown, hairy, glutinous 
ring under two or three of the upper joints, by which small flies are 
caught. Sm. Leaves sea-green, opposite, egg-oblong, sessile. Petals 
pale red, slighty notched at the end. Flowers numerous. Plant twelve 
to eighteen inches high. E.) 
Common or Lobel’s Catchfly. Corn-fields, gardens, (from which it 
may have originally escaped; E.) and old walls. Banks of the river half 
a mile below Chester. Dr. Richardson. (In a corn-field at Weybridge, 
with S.anglica. Mr. Borrer, in Bot. Guide. E.) A. July—Aug. 
S. co'nica. Petals cloven: calyx of the fruit conical, with thirty 
scores: leaves soft. 
( E. Bot. 922. E.)— Jacq. Austr. 253— J. B. iii. 350. 1— Lob. Ic. i. 338. 2— 
Ger. Em. 470. 6—Park. 633. 11. 
{Plant greyish green, downy. Stem from a few inches to two feet high, 
dichotomous, leafy. Leaves opposite, united at the base, sessile, strap- 
spear-shaped. Flowers fine red, few, fragrant towards evening; petals 
small, each with a deeply divided scale, and the claw having an angular 
tooth on each side. E.) 
(Corn Catchfly. E.) Sandy corn-fields. A little to the north of 
Sandown castle, plentifully. Sherard and Rand. R. Syn. Ed. iii. (Oppo¬ 
site the Warren House at New Romney, Kent. Rev. Mr. Stacy. Heb- 
burn Ballast Hills, Durham. Mr. Waugh, in Bot. Guide. Common on 
the range of sand hills, beginning at Deal and running eastward of Sand¬ 
wich. Dillwyn, ditto. In a field near Iverley, Worcestershire. Purton. 
E.) A. June—July.* 
S. noctiflo'ra. Petals cloven, (each with a cloven abrupt scale: E.) 
calyx with ten angles, its teeth as long as the tube: stem 
forked. 
* The leaves boiled have something of the flavour of peas, and proved of great use to 
the Inhabitants of the island of Minorca, in the year 1685 , when a swarm of locusts had 
destroyed the harvest. The Gothlanders apply the leaves to erysipelatous eruptions. 
(Bryant, in FJ. Diaetetica, recommends the cultivation of this, plant; the young tender 
sprouts, improved by-proper management, would, he expects, amply reward the agricultu¬ 
rist. E.) 
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