Silene acaulis
Silene pseudatocion
moss campion, silène acaule
North African catchfly
straggling to erect, much-branched, elongate, 20–70 cm, sparsely retrorse-puberulent.
erect, leafy proximally, 3–6(–15) cm, old leaves persistent at base.
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.
2 per node, sessile with spatulate, broad, ciliate base, blade oblanceolate, 1.3–5 cm × 4–15 mm, apex acuminate, glabrous or sparsely setose.
solitary flowers.
cymose, open, compound, pedunculate;
bracts leaflike, lanceolate, 3–15 mm, apex acuminate;
peduncle ascending, elongate, viscid stipitate-glandular.
2–40 mm.
ascending, elongate, viscid stipitate-glandular.
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.
calyx prominently 10-veined, clavate, with long, slender tube surrounding carpophore, 17–20 × 4–6 mm, veins parallel, green or purple with purple stipitate glands, with pale commissures, lobes lanceolate, 2–3 mm, margins ciliate, apex acute;
corolla bright pink, clawed, claw slightly longer than calyx, limb obovate, unlobed, ca. 1 cm, appendages 2, oblong, 2 mm, entire;
stamens included in tip of calyx tube;
styles 3, exserted.
3-locular, cylindric, equaling or to 2 times calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth;
carpophore ca. 1 mm.
ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth;
carpophore 9–10 mm, pubescent.
light brown, reniform, 0.8–1(–1.2) mm broad, dull, shallowly rugose.
dull and very dark brown, almost globose, inrolled like a clenched fist, 1–1.3 mm, sides with radiating wrinkles, finely tuberculate abaxially.
= 24.
= 24 (Balearic Islands).
Silene acaulis
Silene pseudatocion
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.)
Silene pseudatocion is occasionally grown in gardens and rarely occurs as a weed in California. It is similar to another garden escape, S. pendula, but it differs in having a calyx tube with a very long, slender base and unlobed petals.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
OR
WA
CalFlora
Flora NW
Go Botany
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
