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Balkan campion, Balkan catchfly, biennial campion, silène bisannuel

Hooker's campion, Hooker's catchfly, Hooker's Indian pink, Hooker's silene

Habit Plants annual or biennial, glabrous and somewhat glaucous; tap-root stout. Herbs, perennial; caudex much-branched, thick and woody.
Stems

erect, sparingly branched below inflorescence, robust, to 65 cm.

solitary or numerous, decumbent and rooting at base, becoming erect, 5–14(–25) cm, with gray, soft, curly to retrorsely crispate pubescence, rarely glandular.

Leaves

basal few, usually withering by time of anthesis, blade spatulate;

cauline numerous, 2 per node, blade 1-veined, ovate-lanceolate to oblanceolate, 3–7 cm × 7–30 mm, margins entire, apex acute.

blade spatulate or narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, sometimes broadly so, 4–7(–10) cm × 8–12(–20) mm, reduced toward base, apex acute, pubescent on both surfaces, especially on midrib;

subterranean bractlike, papery.

Inflorescences

many-flowered, open, bracteate;

primary branches racemose, elongate, with sessile or shortly pedunculate cymes of 1–6 flowers per node;

bracts narrowly lanceolate, 3–12 mm, hyaline-margined, apex acute.

reduced to single, terminal flower or open, (1–)3–5(–9)-flowered cyme, bracteate;

bracts leaflike, reduced distally to ca. 1 cm.

Pedicels

ascending, ± straight, 1–2 times calyx, broadening at calyx base.

ascending, straight, 1–6 cm, with a short canescence.

Flowers

calyx often obscurely ca. 20-veined, elliptic, abruptly contracted at base, opening constricted to 1/2 its diam., slightly inflated in flower, 7–10 × 3–4 mm, in fruit tightly enveloping capsule, ovoid, thin, enlarging to 9–13 × 5–7 mm, herbaceous, margins narrow, membranous, dentate with broadly triangular lobes to 1 mm, glabrous, veins obscure, usually purple tinged, without conspicuous, pale commissures, longitudinal, parallel, not obviously reticulate;

petals white, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb deeply 2-fid into 2 spatulate lobes, to 5 mm, appendages ca. 0.5 mm;

stamens exserted, to 2 times length of calyx;

filaments usually dark purple;

stigmas 3, exserted, to 2 times length of calyx.

calyx 10-veined, broadly tubular in flower, 12–25  5–8 mm, turbinate in fruit and swelling in middle to ca. 10 mm broad, canescent, rarely sparsely pubescent or glandular;

lobes lanceolate, 4–7 mm, with narrow, membranous margins, apex acute;

corolla coral pink or white, clawed, claw equaling calyx;

limb 4-lobed, usually deeply so, rarely 2-lobed with smaller lateral teeth, lobes 7–22 mm, appendages 2, linear, 1.5–3.5 mm (absent in subsp. bolanderi);

stamens slightly longer than corolla claw;

stigmas 3, slightly longer than corolla claw.

Capsules

ovoid, equaling calyx and sometimes splitting it, opening by 6 recurved, narrowly lanceolate teeth;

carpophore ca. 1 mm.

ovoid to oblong, equaling calyx, dehiscing by 6 teeth;

carpophore 2–5 mm.

Seeds

grayish brown, plump, broadly reniform, 0.6–1 mm, with concentric rings of papillae;

papillae slightly longer than broad.

dark brown to black, reniform, ca. 2 mm broad, with concentric rings of small papillae.

2n

= 24.

Silene csereii

Silene hookeri

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Cultivated fields, roadsides, waste land
Elevation 0-1600 m (0-5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NH; NY; OH; PA; SD; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Often confused with Silene vulgaris, S. csereii may be readily separated by the long, racemose primary branches of its inflorescence, the elliptic calyx that is constricted at both ends, tightly enclosing the capsule and lacking obvious reticulate venation, and the purple filaments.

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

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Corolla lobes either 4 of unequal size or 2 with lateral teeth, lobes lanceolate to broadly oblong, 5-10 mm, corolla coral pink or white, appendages 2, 1.5-3.5 mm, linear
subsp. hookeri
1. Corolla lobes 4, equal, linear, 15-25 mm, corolla white with greenish center, appendages absent
subsp. bolanderi
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 180. FNA vol. 5, p. 186.
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. campanulata, S. caroliniana, S. chalcedonica, S. conica, S. coniflora, S. conoidea, S. coronaria, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
S. hookeri subsp. bolanderi, S. hookeri subsp. hookeri
Name authority Baumgarten: Enum. Stirp. Transsilv. 3: 345. (1816) Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 193. (1838)
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