Silene bernardina
Silene serpentinicola
mountain catchfly, Palmer's campion, Palmer's catchfly
serpentine catchfly, serpentine Indian pink
not much- branched, slender, (15–)30–60 cm, sparsely pubescent proximally, viscid-glandular distally.
4–10(–15) cm, softly pubescent.
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.
cauline in 4–8 pairs, crowded;
blade gray-green, oblanceolate to obovate, spatulate, 2.5–4.5 cm × 5–15 mm, longest near middle of stem, sparsely pubescent on both surfaces, reduced and bractlike on subterranean base.
erect, with several short, ascending branches, few-flowered, open, bracteate, shortly pubescent and viscid-glandular;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 3–10 mm, rigid.
terminal, 1–3(–4)-flowered cymes, densely glandular-pubescent;
bracts leaflike, (0.5–)0.7–1.1 cm.
ascending and straight, (5–)7–10 mm, glandular-pubescent.
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.
ca. 30 mm diam.;
calyx purple tinged, distinctly 10-veined, tubular, inflated and expanding in fruit, 13–17 mm, densely glandular-pubescent, lobes lanceolate;
corolla scarlet, clawed, limb carmine red, turning purple on drying, ± equally deeply 2-lobed, each lobe with lateral tooth, ca. 11 mm, glabrous, claw narrowly obtriangular, equaling calyx, appendages 2, prominent, petaloid, linear, truncate, 2.5–4.5 mm;
stamens long-exserted;
stigmas 3, long-exserted.
1-locular, narrowly ovoid, exceeding calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) ascending teeth;
carpophore 3–6 mm.
ovoid to oblong, equaling calyx, (8–)12–15 mm;
carpophore 0.5–1 mm.
brown, reniform, 1.5–2 mm broad, shallowly tuberculate on both surfaces, papillate around margins.
dark brown, reniform, 1.8–2 mm diam., strongly papillate.
= 48.
= 72.
Silene bernardina
Silene serpentinicola
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.)
Of conservation concern.
Silene serpentinicola is a recently described endemic of the serpentines of the Smith River basin of northwestern Del Norte County and probably occurs on the same rock system across the border in Oregon. It differs from S. hookeri in flower color, and from both S. hookeri and S. laciniata subsp. californica in its erect, more or less solitary flowering stems and large, clearly visible petaloid appendages in the flowers.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
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
