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bell catchfly, campanulate campion, red mountain catchfly, slender campion

barestem campion, naked campion, sticky catchfly, western fringe catchfly

Habit Plants perennial; taproot stout; caudex much-branched, woody, producing many erect-to-straggling, little-branched flowering shoots. Plants perennial; taproot thick; caudex erect, branched, thick and woody, producing tufts of leaves.
Stems

erect, 5–40 cm, softly pubescent to scabrous, eglandular or viscid-glandular, especially distally, very rarely glabrous, with several pairs of leaves equaling or shorter than internodes.

erect, branched distally, with 2–4 pairs of reduced leaves, 15–50 cm; flowering shoots usually subscapose, coarsely pubescent with hairs colorless, septate, and long, viscid-glandular, especially distally.

Leaves

sessile, or basal with short pseudopetiole;

blade linear to lanceolate or broadly ovate, base round to cuneate, apex acute to shortly acuminate, puberulent on both surfaces, sometimes glandular.

mostly basal;

basal long-petiolate, blade oblanceolate to elliptic, 6–15 cm × 10–30 mm, narrowed to base, not fleshy;

cauline few, sessile, reduced distally, blade lanceolate, 0.8–4 cm × 3–8 mm, not fleshy.

Inflorescences

usually with single dichotomy, rarely double, open, bracteate, branches often elongate, flowers 1 per node;

bracts foliaceous.

thyrsate, subscapose, rarely simple, (3–)5–12(rarely more)-flowered, open, bracteate, bracteolate, densely pubescent, glandular, viscid; alternate branches often suppressed or developing unevenly;

proximal nodes often with single flower;

bracts and bracteoles resembling stem leaves but much reduced.

Pedicels

sharply reflexed at base, especially after anthesis, equaling calyx.

1/4–2 times length of calyx.

Flowers

nodding;

calyx obscurely 10-veined, broadly campanulate, lobed, 6–8 mm, enlarging to 13–16 mm in fruit, herbaceous, usually with short, dense pubescence throughout, often glandular-viscid, veins green, rarely purplish tinged, conspicuous pale commissures absent;

lobes ovate-triangular, 1/2 to equaling tube, herbaceous;

petals creamy white, often greenish abaxially, rarely pink tinged to dusky pink (subsp. campanulata), clawed, to 2 times calyx, claw villose, limb deeply divided and fan-shaped with many narrow, linear lobes, lobes rapidly curling, margins deeply divided or erose, appendages 2–4, to 2 mm;

stamens exserted;

filaments hairy at base;

styles 3, to 2 times calyx.

calyx prominently 10-veined, veins parallel, those of lobes broadened distally, tubular in flower, 10–13 × 2.5–4 mm, campanulate-ovate in fruit, broadest near middle and contracted towards mouth, not contracted proximally, 12–18 × 5–8 mm, with pale commissures, lobes 5, erect, narrowly lanceolate, 4–6 mm, margins narrow, membranous proximally, apex blunt, with glandular hairs;

petals 11/2–2 times longer than calyx tube;

corolla pink, clawed, claw equaling calyx tube, limb obovate, deeply 2-lobed, 5–10 mm, appendages 2, linear, ca. 1.5 mm;

stamens exserted, shorter than petals;

styles 3–5, included in calyx, ± equaling calyx or corolla.

Capsules

ovoid, ca. equaling calyx and often splitting it, opening by 6 broadly triangular teeth;

carpophore 1–2.5 mm.

conic to ellipsoid, equaling calyx lobes, opening by 6–10 recurved teeth;

carpophore 1–2 mm.

Seeds

brown, reniform, 2–2.5 mm broad, coarsely and ± evenly papillate;

papillae ca. as long as broad.

dark brown, reniform, 1–1.5 mm, prominently papillate;

papillae larger around margins.

2n

= 48.

Silene campanulata

Silene nuda

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Scrubby grasslands and openings in woodland and coniferous forests
Elevation 1100-2300 m (3600-7500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Silene nuda may be confused with the other scapose species, S. scaposa, but S. nuda has larger, more conspicuous petals that are one and one-half to two times as long as the calyx tube. It is found in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. The Nevada populations tend to grow in drier situations and on saline flats.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Petals dusky pink; leaf blades linear to lanceolate, usually less than 10 mm broad; stem pubescence scabrid, hairs 2 or 4 times as long as broad
subsp. campanulata
1. Petals creamy white; leaf blades lanceolate to ovate, usually more than 10 mm broad; stem pubescence not scabrid, hairs at least 5 times as long as broad
subsp. glandulosa
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 176. FNA vol. 5, p. 195.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene
Sibling taxa
S. acaulis, S. antirrhina, S. aperta, S. armeria, S. bernardina, S. bridgesii, S. caroliniana, S. chalcedonica, S. conica, S. coniflora, S. conoidea, S. coronaria, S. csereii, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. drummondii, S. flos-cuculi, S. gallica, S. grayi, S. hitchguirei, S. hookeri, S. invisa, S. involucrata, S. kingii, S. laciniata, S. latifolia, S. lemmonii, S. marmorensis, S. menziesii, S. nachlingerae, S. nivea, S. noctiflora, S. nuda, S. occidentalis, S. oregana, S. ostenfeldii, S. ovata, S. parishii, S. parryi, S. pendula, S. petersonii, S. plankii, S. polypetala, S. pseudatocion, S. rectiramea, S. regia, S. repens, S. rotundifolia, S. sargentii, S. scaposa, S. scouleri, S. seelyi, S. serpentinicola, S. sibirica, S. sorensenis, S. spaldingii, S. stellata, S. subciliata, S. suecica, S. suksdorfii, S. thurberi, S. uralensis, S. verecunda, S. virginica, S. viscaria, S. vulgaris, S. williamsii, S. wrightii
S. acaulis, S. antirrhina, S. aperta, S. armeria, S. bernardina, S. bridgesii, S. campanulata, S. caroliniana, S. chalcedonica, S. conica, S. coniflora, S. conoidea, S. coronaria, S. csereii, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. drummondii, S. flos-cuculi, S. gallica, S. grayi, S. hitchguirei, S. hookeri, S. invisa, S. involucrata, S. kingii, S. laciniata, S. latifolia, S. lemmonii, S. marmorensis, S. menziesii, S. nachlingerae, S. nivea, S. noctiflora, S. occidentalis, S. oregana, S. ostenfeldii, S. ovata, S. parishii, S. parryi, S. pendula, S. petersonii, S. plankii, S. polypetala, S. pseudatocion, S. rectiramea, S. regia, S. repens, S. rotundifolia, S. sargentii, S. scaposa, S. scouleri, S. seelyi, S. serpentinicola, S. sibirica, S. sorensenis, S. spaldingii, S. stellata, S. subciliata, S. suecica, S. suksdorfii, S. thurberi, S. uralensis, S. verecunda, S. virginica, S. viscaria, S. vulgaris, S. williamsii, S. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
S. campanulata subsp. campanulata, S. campanulata subsp. glandulosa
Synonyms Lychnis nuda, S. insectivora, S. nuda subsp. insectivora, S. pectinata, S. pectinata var. subnuda
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 341. (1875) (S. Watson) C. L. Hitchcock & Maguire: Revis. N. Amer. Silene, 45. (1947)
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