Burke: Silene noctiflora vs. Silene dichotoma

	Silene noctiflora	Silene dichotoma
	night-flowering catchfly	forked catchfly
Habit	Annual with 1-3 simple or branched stems, 2-6 dm. tall, stiff-hairy throughout and glandular-pubescent above.
Leaves	Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate to elliptic-oblanceolate, 5-12 cm. long and up to 4 cm. broad, the lower ones long-petiolate, the upper sub-sessile.
Flowers	Flowers few to several in an open inflorescence, the pedicels 3-30 mm. long; calyx 5u00e2u20acu201clobed, tubular, 15 mm. long at flowering, much enlarged in fruit, 10-nerved, the lobes lance-linear, 5-9 mm. long; petals 5, white to pinkish, glabrous, the claw 12-25 mm. long, auriculate above, the blade 7-10 mm. long, bi-lobed less than half the length; blade appendages 2, 0.5-1.5 mm. long and broad; stamens 10; styles 3. Flowers open at dusk.
Fruits	Capsule 3-celled.

	Silene noctiflora	Silene dichotoma
Flowering time	June-August	May-July
Habitat	Grain fields and waste areas.	Roadsides, fields, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Yukon Territory to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across much of North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe	Introduced from Europe
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	S. acaulis, S. antirrhina, S. bernardina, S. conoidea, S. csereii, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. gallica, S. latifolia, S. menziesii, S. oregana, S. paradoxa, S. parryi, S. scouleri, S. seelyi, S. spaldingii, S. suksdorfii, S. vulgaris	S. acaulis, S. antirrhina, S. bernardina, S. conoidea, S. csereii, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. gallica, S. latifolia, S. menziesii, S. noctiflora, S. oregana, S. paradoxa, S. parryi, S. scouleri, S. seelyi, S. spaldingii, S. suksdorfii, S. vulgaris
Subordinate taxa		S. dichotoma ssp. dichotoma
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Silene noctiflora

Silene dichotoma

night-flowering catchfly

forked catchfly

Habit

Annual with 1-3 simple or branched stems, 2-6 dm. tall, stiff-hairy throughout and glandular-pubescent above.

Leaves

Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate to elliptic-oblanceolate, 5-12 cm. long and up to 4 cm. broad, the lower ones long-petiolate, the upper sub-sessile.

Flowers

Flowers few to several in an open inflorescence, the pedicels 3-30 mm. long;

calyx 5u00e2u20acu201clobed, tubular, 15 mm. long at flowering, much enlarged in fruit, 10-nerved, the lobes lance-linear, 5-9 mm. long;

petals 5, white to pinkish, glabrous, the claw 12-25 mm. long, auriculate above, the blade 7-10 mm. long, bi-lobed less than half the length;

blade appendages 2, 0.5-1.5 mm. long and broad;

stamens 10;

styles 3. Flowers open at dusk.

Fruits

Capsule 3-celled.