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white campion

Habit Plants annual, biennial or perennial; taproots and caudices woody.
Stems

erect or sometimes decumbent at base, 30–120 cm;

branches few, generally hirsute, often glandular above.

Leaves

basal often withering; middle cauline oblanceolate to elliptic, 5–14.5 cm × 6–30(56) mm; upper cauline lanceolate to elliptic, 1.5–8 cm × 3–15 mm, gradually reduced upward.

Inflorescences

terminal; open cymes, not 1-sided;

pedicels sometimes 0 (staminate flowers), glandular puberulent.

Flowers

unisexual, ascending to erect;

calyces tubular (staminate) or ovoid (pistillate); much inflated in fruit, 12–20 mm, 10-veined (staminate) or 20-veined (pistillate), not netted above; pale commissures present; hirsute-glandular;

lobes 3–6 mm;

tips obtuse or acuminate;

petal claws glabrous; appendages 2;

limbs 7–9(12) mm, white; entire or lobes 2;

stamens slightly exserted or equaling petal claws;

styles 5, slightly exserted.

Fruits

ovoid;

teeth 5, splitting to 10;

stalks 1–2 mm.

Seeds

1–2 mm, gray-brown, not winged.

2n

=24.

Silene stellata

Silene latifolia

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Disturbed areas, field edges, shaded riverbanks. Flowering May–Sep. 0–1800 m. BW, Casc, CR, ECas, Sisk, WV. CA, ID, WA; throughout North America except far north and southeast; Europe. Exotic.

Silene latifolia is an introduced species that may have arrived via ballast; the first collection in Oregon was made in 1911.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 572
Rich Rabeler, Ronald Hartman
Sibling taxa
S. acaulis, S. antirrhina, S. bernardina, S. bolanderi, S. bridgesii, S. campanulata, S. conoidea, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. gallica, S. grayi, S. hookeri, S. latifolia, S. lemmonii, S. menziesii, S. noctiflora, S. nuda, S. oregana, S. parryi, S. pectinata, S. pendula, S. scaposa, S. scouleri, S. spaldingii, S. suksdorfii, S. vulgaris
S. acaulis, S. antirrhina, S. bernardina, S. bolanderi, S. bridgesii, S. campanulata, S. conoidea, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. gallica, S. grayi, S. hookeri, S. lemmonii, S. menziesii, S. noctiflora, S. nuda, S. oregana, S. parryi, S. pectinata, S. pendula, S. scaposa, S. scouleri, S. spaldingii, S. suksdorfii, S. vulgaris
Synonyms Lychnis alba, Silene latifolia ssp. alba
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