15. Silene Dichótoma Ehrh. Forked Catchfly

Fig. 1815

Silene dichotoma Ehrh. Beitr. 7: 143. 1792.

Silene racemosa Otth in DC. Prodr. 1: 384. 1824.

Annual, erect, branching, pubescent, 1°-2° high. Lower and basal leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, 2'-3' long, acuminate or acute, tapering into a villous petiole; upper leaves sessile, lanceolate or linear; flowers white, sessile or very short-pedicelled, distant in forking i-sided spikes; calyx cylindric, 6"-8" long, hirsute, much enlarged by the ripening pod, its teeth ovate-lanceolate, acute; petals white, bifid, with a short obtuse crown.

In fields and waste places, Maine to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas. Also in California. Adventive from southern Europe. Summer.

16. Silene Menziesii Hook. Menzies' Pink

Fig. 1816

Silene Menziesii Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 90. pl. 30. 1830.

Perennial, slender, ascending or decumbent, leafy, widely branching, minutely and densely glandular-pubescent, 6'-18' high. Leaves sessile, or the lowest narrowed into a petiole, oval, ovate-lanceolate or slightly oblanceolate, acute or acuminate at each end, minutely ciliate on the margins, 1'-21/2' long; flowers axillary and terminal, numerous, slender-peduncled, white, 4"-5" long; petals 2-cleft, crown-less, longer than the 5-toothed calyx; capsule about the length of the calyx; seeds black, minutely tu-berculate.

In damp soil, Assiniboia to western Nebraska, Missouri, British Columbia, California and New Mexico. June-Aug.