Silene acaulis
Silene involucrata
moss campion, silène acaule
arctic campion, arctic catchfly, Drummond's campion
erect, leafy proximally, 3–6(–15) cm, old leaves persistent at base.
several, erect, simple or branched, 10–45 cm, usually with 2–5 pairs of leaves.
mostly basal, densely crowded and imbricate, sessile;
blade 1(–3)-veined, linear-subulate to lanceolate, 0.4–1(–1.5) cm × 0.8–1.5(–2) mm, margins cartilaginous, often ciliolate especially proximally, apex acute, glabrous to scabrous.
mainly basal, petiolate;
blade narrowly oblanceolate, ± spatulate, 20–60 × 3–5(–10) mm (including petiole), glabrous to pubescent, especially on margins and abaxial veins, pubescence spreading, short, stiff, mainly eglandular.
solitary flowers.
1–3-flowered, open, bracteate, pubescent, usually densely so, hairs long, flexuous, purple-septate, mostly glandular;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 4–10 mm, usually pubescent.
2–40 mm.
usually several times longer than calyx.
bisexual or unisexual, all plants having both staminate and pistillate flowers, others having only pistillate flowers, subsessile or borne singly on peduncle;
calyx 10-veined, lateral veins absent, tubular to campanulate, (5–)7–10 mm, herbaceous, margins often purple tinged, dentate, sometimes ciliate, ± scarious, glabrous, lobes lanceolate to ovate, 1–2 mm;
petals bright pink, rarely white, limb unlobed to shallowly 2-fid, 2.5–3.5 mm, base tapered into claw, auricles and appendages poorly developed;
stamens exserted in staminate flowers, not so or aborted in pistillate flowers;
styles 3.
pedicellate, rarely sessile, erect, 8–16 mm diam.;
calyx prominently 10-veined, not inflated or thin, campanulate or ovate, 8–20 mm, pubescent, especially on veins, rarely almost glabrous, hairs long and short purple-septate, ± glandular, veins heavily suffused with purple (rarely green), sinuses between veins pale, cream colored;
petals white, often pink or purple tinged, claw equaling calyx, limb not differentiated from claw, emarginate to obovate, often 2-lobed, ca. 1/2 as long as calyx;
stamens included in calyx, spreading horizontally;
styles 5, included in calyx.
3-locular, cylindric, equaling or to 2 times calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth;
carpophore ca. 1 mm.
equaling calyx, opening by 5 teeth, tardily splitting into 10.
light brown, reniform, 0.8–1(–1.2) mm broad, dull, shallowly rugose.
brown, winged, ± reniform to angular, 1–1.5 mm diam.;
wing to 1/2 seed diam.
= 24.
Silene acaulis
Silene involucrata
Silene acaulis is a variable species, and most workers have recognized infraspecific taxa in North America: subsp. acaulis (subsp. exscapa and subsp. arctica), which is predominantly arctic; and subsp. subacaulescens, which extends down the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to Arizona and New Mexico. In subsp. acaulis, the leaves are flat and short and the flowers are subsessile and smaller in size. Subspecies subacaulescens is typically a larger, less-compact plant with longer, narrower leaves and larger, pedunculate flowers. However, in many populations, these two variants are poorly differentiated, and in others both occur together, connected by intermediates.
Silene acaulis is widely distributed in arctic and alpine Europe.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Silene involucrata is a very variable circumpolar and arctic-alpine species complex. Many of the variants have been treated as species by earlier workers. Here, a single species with two subspecies is recognized.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Calyx campanulate to ovoid, 10-20 mm in fruit; flowering stems sturdy, usually less than 20 cm, internodes equaling or shorter than leaves | subsp. involucrata |
1. Calyx campanulate, 8-10(-12) mm in fruit; flowering stems slender, usually over 30 cm, internodes longer than leaves | subsp. tenella |
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