Silene dioica |
Caryophyllaceae subfam. caryophylloideae |
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red campion, red catchfly, silène dioïque |
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Habit | Plants perennial; taproot slender. | Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial; taprooted or rhizomatous, sometimes stoloniferous. |
Stems | ascending, decumbent at base, branched, shortly rhizomatous, to 80 cm, softly pubescent, ± glandular, at least distally, rarely subglabrous. |
erect or ascending, seldom sprawling, decumbent, or prostrate, simple or branched. |
Leaves | sessile at mid and distal stem, petiolate to spatulate proximally; petiole equaling or longer than blade of basal leaves; blade ovate to elliptic, 3–13 cm × 10–50 mm (not including petiole), apex acute to acuminate, sparingly pubescent, densely so on abaxial midrib. |
opposite, rarely whorled, connate proximally, petiolate (basal leaves) or often sessile, not stipulate; blade linear or subulate to ovate, not succulent or rarely so (Silene). |
Inflorescences | dichasial cymes, several- to many-flowered, open, bracteate; bracts lanceolate, 4–20 × 2–7 mm, herbaceous, softly hairy throughout with long-septate hairs, not glandular, or with some glandular hairs. |
terminal cymes, thyrses, fascicles, or capitula, or flowers solitary, axillary; bracts foliaceous, scarious, or absent; involucel bracteoles present or often absent. |
Pedicels | ascending, 0.2–3 cm, usually shorter than calyx. |
present or rarely flowers sessile or subsessile. |
Flowers | unisexual, some plants having only staminate flowers, others having only pistillate flowers, 20–25 mm diam.; calyx 8–12-veined, campanulate, narrowly so in staminate flowers, broadly in pistillate, 10–15 × to 7 mm in flower, 11 mm broad in fruit, herbaceous, margins dentate, softly pubescent, lobes 5, erect, lanceolate, 2–3 mm; petals bright pink, clawed, claw equaling or longer than calyx, limb spreading horizontally, broadly obovate, unlobed or 2-lobed, to 12 × 12 mm, appendages 4, ca. 1 mm; stamens and stigmas equaling petal claw; styles 5. |
bisexual or seldom unisexual (the species then often dioecious), often conspicuous; perianth and androecium hypogynous; sepals 5, connate (1/4–)1/2+ their lengths into cup or tube, (1–)5–40(–62) mm, apex not hooded or awned; petals absent or 5, often showy, white to pink or red, usually clawed, auricles absent or sometimes present, coronal appendages sometimes present, blade apex entire or emarginate to 2-fid, sometimes dentate to lacinate; stamens (5 or) 10 (absent in pistillate flowers), in 1 or 2 whorls, arising from base of ovary; staminodes absent or rarely 1–10; ovary 1-locular, sometimes 2-locular proximally (Vaccaria), or 3–5-locular (some Silene); styles 2–3(–5) (absent in staminate flowers), distinct; stigmas 2–3(–5) (absent in staminate flowers). |
Fruits | capsules, opening by 4–6(–10) valves or teeth; carpophore usually present. |
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Capsules | broadly ovoid to globose, equaling and often splitting calyx, opening by 5 (splitting into 10) revolute teeth; carpophore absent. |
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Seeds | dark brown to black, broadly reniform, plump, 1–1.6 mm, densely and evenly papillate. |
4–150(–500+), reddish to gray or often brown or black, usually reniform and laterally compressed to globose, sometimes oblong or shield-shaped and dorsiventrally compressed; embryo peripheral and curved, or central and straight. |
x | = 7, 10, 12, [13?,] 14, 15, 17, [18]. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Silene dioica |
Caryophyllaceae subfam. caryophylloideae |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |
Habitat | Woodlands, hedges, gardens, riverbanks, open waste places | |
Elevation | 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) | |
Distribution |
CT; IA; IL; MA; MD; ME; MT; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; VT; WA; WI; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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North-temperate regions; Europe (esp Mediterranean region); Asia (esp Mediterranean region e to c Asia); Africa (Mediterranean region, Republic of South Africa) |
Discussion | Silene dioica is closely related to S. latifolia and completely interfertile with it. The two species hybridize wherever they grow in close proximity, and the offspring (S. hampeana Meusel & K. Werner) usually have pale pink flowers. Silene dioica and S. latifolia are difficult to separate in herbarium material unless flower color has been noted. The characters that distinguish S. dioica are the usually dense, long, and soft pubescence covering at least the distal portion of the plant; the broad, almost globose, thin, and brittle capsule with revolute teeth; and the softer, thinner, usually broader leaves. Occasionally, double-flowered plants are encountered as garden escapes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera 20 or 26, species ca. 1500 (8 genera, 89 species in the flora). Caryophylloideae can be characterized by the presence of sepals connate into a cup or (usually) long tube, clawed petals (often with appendages and auricles), and a lack of stipules. The largest genera in the family [Silene (incl. Lychnis), about 700 species; Dianthus, about 320 species] are in the Caryophylloideae; together with Gypsophila (about 150 species), these three genera include about three-quarters of the species found in the family. Three tribes are often differentiated on calyx venation and number of styles, with two, Caryophylleae and Sileneae, incorporating nearly all of the genera. Caryophylloideae share the caryophyllad type of embryogeny with Alsinoideae and, as postulated by V. Bittrich (1993), the two may form a monophyletic group. Results from preliminary molecular studies by M. Nepokroeff et al. (2002) and R. D. Smissen et al. (2002) reinforce that hypothesis, but the relationships among members of the two subfamilies remain unclear. Most of the molecular work within the subfamily has focused on Sileneae and more specifically on trying to determine whether or not Silene is monophyletic. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 181. | FNA vol. 5, p. 152. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | Caryophyllaceae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lychnis dioica, Lychnis rubra, Melandrium dioicum, Melandrium dioicum subsp. rubrum, Melandrium rubrum | family Caryophyllaceae subfamily Silenoideae |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Clairville: Man. Herbor. Suisse, 146. (1811) | Arnott: in M. Napier, Encycl. Brit. ed. 7, 5: 99. (1832) |
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