noun
definition
Any of the genus Lychnis of flowering plants.
Examples of lychnis in a Sentence
Two typical species are Lychnis apetala, which extends to Spitsbergen, and the well-known edelweiss.
The principal other plants which bear the name are the wallflower, Cheiranthus Cheiri, called wall-gillyflower in old books; the dame's violet, Hesperis matronalis, called variously the queen's, the rogue's and the winter gillyflower; the ragged-robin, Lychnis Flos-cuculi, called marsh-gillyflower and cuckoo-gillyflower; the waterviolet, Hottonia palustris, called water-gillyflower; and the thrift, Armeria vulgaris, called sea-gillyflower.
Thus in Lychnis an elongation of the axis betwixt the calyx and the corolla takes place, and in this way they are separated by an interval.
These teeth sometimes form a regular fringe round the margin, and the petal becomes fimbriated, as in the pink; or laciniated, as in Lychnis Flos-cuculi; or crested, as in Polygala.
Of this nature are the scales on the petals in Lychnis, Silene and Cynoglossum, which are formed in the same way as the ligules of grasses.
Buttermere Fells is also a locality for the rare Alpine catchfly Lychnis alpina.
The white Lychnis, the globe thistles Echinops and bronze fennel that has yellow flowers continue also to provide interest and color.
In this connection, it is interesting that in the east of England with the lowest summer rainfall of this country, many common sciophytes are absent or rare in the woods, such, for example, as Melica uniflora, Allium ursinum, Lychnis dioica, OxalsY Acetosella, and Asperula odorata.