Silene bernardina
Silene oregana
mountain catchfly, Palmer's campion, Palmer's catchfly
Oregon campion, Oregon catchfly, Oregon silene
not much- branched, slender, (15–)30–60 cm, sparsely pubescent proximally, viscid-glandular distally.
usually simple proximal to inflorescence, 30–50(–70) cm, puberulent and shortly stipitate-glandular, especially distally.
mostly basal;
blade linear-lanceolate to oblanceolate, 2–8 cm × 2–6(–15) mm (including petiole), base tapered into slender petiole, apex acute to obtuse, subglabrous to glandular-pubescent on both surfaces;
cauline leaves to 4 pairs below inflorescence, narrower than basal leaves, blade usually linear but rarely elliptic-lanceolate.
2 per node, gradually reduced distally;
basal petiolate, blade oblanceolate, spatulate, 5–9 cm × 7–15 mm (including petiole), apex acute to obtuse, usually glabrous adaxially, sparsely pubescent abaxially;
cauline in 4–6 pairs, blade linear-lanceolate, 1–6(–8) cm × 2–6 mm, puberulent and shortly stipitate-glandular.
erect, with several short, ascending branches, few-flowered, open, bracteate, shortly pubescent and viscid-glandular;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 3–10 mm, rigid.
thyrsate, 3–25-flowered, open, bracteate, pedunculate, stipitate-glandular, viscid;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2–25 mm, apex acuminate.
ascending.
calyx prominently 10-veined, broadly tubular, umbilicate, moderately or not clavate, narrowed around carpophore, lobed, 12–15 × 4–6 mm, thin and papery, with short glandular-viscid pubescence, veins parallel, usually red pigmented, with pale commissures;
lobes lanceolate, 2–4 mm, apex acute;
petals white, pink, or dingy red, 11/2–2 times calyx, claw equaling calyx, ciliate at base, limb obtriangular, 4–6 mm, deeply divided into 4 linear lobes, appendages 2, conspicuous, laciniate, 2–3 mm, apex rounded;
stamens slightly exserted;
filaments ciliate at base;
styles 3(–4), equaling or longer than stamens.
calyx prominently 10-veined, narrowly campanulate, umbilicate, somewhat clavate and constricted below middle around carpophore, 9–15 × 3–4 mm in flower, broadening to 7 mm in fruit, membranous, shortly stipitate-glandular, veins parallel, slender, tinged dark red, with pale commissures, lobes ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, 2–3 mm, margins scarious;
corolla creamy white, sometimes pink tinged, clawed, claw equaling calyx, glabrous, broadening only slightly into limb 3–8 mm, limb with 4–6 linear lobes, some splitting to 10 linear segments, appendages 4–6, linear, 1–1.5 mm, apex acute;
stamens ca. equaling petals;
filaments glabrous;
stigmas 3(–5), ca. equaling petals.
1-locular, narrowly ovoid, exceeding calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) ascending teeth;
carpophore 3–6 mm.
ellipsoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 6 (or 8 or 10) very brittle teeth;
carpophore 2–4 mm.
brown, reniform, 1.5–2 mm broad, shallowly tuberculate on both surfaces, papillate around margins.
brown, ± reniform, angular, glossy, shallowly tuberculate.
= 48.
= 48.
Silene bernardina
Silene oregana
Silene bernardina is the earliest valid name for this species. Watson had previously (1875) named it S. montana, and that name was taken up by C. L. Hitchcock and B. Maguire (1947), who cited S. bernardina as a subspecies of S. montana. Unfortunately, the epithet montana is pre-occupied in Silene by S. montana Arrondeau (1863), an unrelated European species. The situation was further complicated by Watson in 1877, when he used the name Lychnis montana for another unrelated species now transferred to Silene and called S. hitchguirei.
Silene bernardina varies in leaf width, pubescence, and flower color. The broader-leaved and more sparsely pubescent forms have been referred to subsp. bernardina, and the more-common, narrower-leaved, more-densely pubescent, and viscid forms have been referred to subsp. maguirei.
Some forms of Silene bernardina can be difficult to distinguish from S. verecunda, S. sargentii, and S. oregana. Silene verecunda differs in its smaller, clavate calyx and in its petals being only shortly two-lobed. Silene sargentii is a small, densely cespitose, high-alpine species with very narrow, linear leaves (1–2 mm wide), shortly two-lobed petals, and seeds with much larger papillae around the margins. In S. oregana the petals are larger (two times the calyx) and deeply divided into many very narrow segments; the claw and the filaments are glabrous; the leaves, particularly the basal ones, are broader; and the inflorescences are narrower, with the more numerous flowers arranged on short, ascending branches; also, the calyx lobes are ovate and obtuse instead of lanceolate and acute. The Idaho material tends to be intermediate with S. oregana but has open, dichotomously branched inflorescences, and the petals are nearer to those of S. bernardina. These plants from Valley County in the Payette National Forest need further study, preferably in the field. They may represent a distinct taxon.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The creamy white laciniate petals are the best field (and herbarium) guide to distinguishing this species from Silene parryi and S. scouleri, both of which have 2–4-lobed petals that are usually dingy cream to greenish or purple tinged.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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