stfif [ 788 3
L Y C H N I S V i f c a r i a .
R ed German Catchfly.
DECANDRIA Pentagynia.
Gen. C h a r . Cal. of i leaf, oblong. Pe ta ls 5, with
claws; their limb moftly divided. C a p /. fuperior3
opening with 5 teeth, of x or 5 cells.
S p e c . C h a r . Petals undivided. Fruit of five cells.
S y n . Lychnis Vifcaria. Linn. Sp. P I. 6 25. Sm. F I.
B rit. 494. Hudf. 199. With. 4 3 3 . Hull. 100.
L ig h tf. 239.
L . Sylveftris vifcofa rubra anguftifolia. Ran Syn. 340.
A VERY rare plant wild, though common with double
flowers in gardens. It ftill grows in feveral rocky fpots about
Edinburgh, as mentioned by Ray, and from thence Mr.
Mackay fent us frefli fpecimens; the fame accurate obferver
has found it at Craig Hall, near Blair gowrie, Angus-fhire.
It is perennial, and blooms early in the fummer, when its
flowers are a great ornament to its native crags, their rofe-
coloured petals being prettily contralted with the purplifh calyx
and dark-brown Item.
The roots are woody and perennial, ftrongly fixed in the clefts
of the rocks. Stems ftraight, about a foot high, Ample,
angular, leafy, dark-brown and clammy under each joint, by
which infects are plentifully caught, as in feveral other plants
of the pink or campion tribe, for what purpofe no one has yet
afcertained ; probably their decaying bodies form an air which
is falutary to vegetable life. Leaves lanceolate, entire, pointed,
dark-green, fmooth. Flowers in a denfe forked panicle or
thyrfus. Calyx membranous, coloured, fmooth, or fometimes
a little hairy. Petals (lightly emarginate, with a cloven crown
at the bafe of their limb. Capfule ovate, fcarcely half fo long
as the calyx, divided internally into five cells, containing many
rough feeds.