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.