Silenen.

Etymology: < scientific Latin Silene, genus name ( Linnaeus Genera Plantarum (1737) 132) < post-classical Latin silene (1574 in a botanical glossary published together with a glossary to the works of Paracelsus, 1576 in a botanical work by Lobel; already 1516 and 1549 in two different editions of Dioscorides, denoting an unidentified plant), further etymology uncertain (see note). Compare French silène (1765 in this sense).The semantic motivation of the plant name is uncertain. As Linnaeus suggested in a footnote, it may irregularly derive < ancient Greek σίαλον saliva (see sialo- comb. form), with reference to the glutinous, viscous fluid which exudes from the stem of some of the plants of this genus, in which flies or other insects can become trapped (whence the English name catchfly n.). However, this leaves the form of the Latin plant name difficult to explain. It has alternatively been suggested that the plant name may derive < the name of the satyr Sīlēnus (see Silenus n.), on account of the swollen calyx of some plants of the genus, likened to the belly of Silenus. Compare the following earlier example of post-classical Latin silene in an English context:1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 482 Of L'Obelius Muscipula and Viscaria: of Dodoneus Armerius flos tertius: of Clusius, Lychnis syluestris, Silene Theophrasti, and Behen rubrum Salamanticum: in English, Catch flie, and Lime woort.In this quotation Gerard is following earlier botanists (e.g. Lobel) in attributing the name to Theophrastus, but this probably refers to Paracelsus (Theophrastus von Hohenheim), rather than the Hellenistic Greek botanist. It is possible, however, that this attribution arose from some confusion, as Paracelsus does not appear to have used the term.