Silene drummondii
Silene suecica
Drummond's campion, Drummond's catchfly, fork catchfly
alpine pink, catchfly, lychnide alpine
erect, simple or several from base, retrorsely puberulent proximally, densely so and viscid distally, with stipitate glands.
erect, simple, 5–35 cm, glabrous or very sparsely short-pubescent.
blade with stiff, appressed pubescence on both surfaces;
basal petiolate, blade lanceolate to elliptic or oblanceolate, (1.5–)3–10 cm × 4–12 mm (including petiole);
cauline in 2–5 pairs, blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 3–9 cm × 2–7 mm.
basal crowded, blade narrowly oblanceolate, 1–5 cm × 1–5 mm, tapered into broad ciliate base, apex acute;
cauline in 2–5 pairs, sessile, connate proximally, blade narrowly lanceolate, 1–4 cm × 2–7 mm, margins ciliate, apex acute.
1–20-flowered, bracteate, strongly viscid-glandular or less densely pubescent, longer hairs sometimes purple-septate;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, thick, 3–15 mm, herbaceous, apex acuminate.
cymose, congested, 6–30-flowered, bracteate, pedunculate, often with smaller pedunculate branches in distal nodes;
bracts purple, lanceolate, 2–20 mm;
peduncle glabrous to sparsely puberulent.
stiffly erect, 0.1–5 cm, varying in length within same inflorescence.
glabrous to sparsely puberulent.
calyx 10-veined, broadly tubular to narrowly ellipsoid, not inflated, 12–18 × 4–8 mm in fruit, 2–3 times as long as broad, membranous between veins, margins dentate with 5 triangular, 1.2–2 mm lobes erect in flower and spreading in fruit, apex acuminate, veins green;
petals off-white to dusky pink or dingy reddish purple, clawed, equaling or to 11/2 times calyx, claw broadened distally, limb not differentiated from claw, narrower than claw, 1–3 mm;
stamens included in calyx;
styles (4–)5, included in calyx.
sessile or short-petiolate, 5–10 mm diam.;
calyx purple, faintly 10-veined, campanulate, 4–6 × 3–5 mm, base attenuate into pedicel, lobes ovate, 1–1.5 mm, margins broad, membranous, apex obtuse;
corolla bright pink (rarely white), limb spreading, 2-lobed to middle, 3.5–7 mm, cuneate into claw, ca. 11/4–11/2 times calyx, appendages absent;
stamens ca. equaling petals;
stigmas 5, ca. equaling petals.
12–15 mm, equaling calyx (rarely to 11/2 times calyx), opening by (4–)5 spreading teeth.
ovoid, equaling to slightly longer than calyx, opening by 5 recurved teeth;
carpophore ca. 1 mm.
dark brown, not winged, reniform to angular, 0.7–1 mm diam., margins finely papillate;
papillae triangular, slender, longer than broad.
dark brown, reniform, 0.5–0.8 mm, verrucate with crescent-shaped pattern.
= 24.
Silene drummondii
Silene suecica
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Subspecies drummondii is characteristically a prairie taxon, while subsp. striata is associated with the Rocky Mountains. However, the two taxa frequently appear to intergrade; e.g., in the Cypress Hills of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, and in the southern Rockies. Variety kruckebergii appears to be a luxuriant form with a more elongate capsule and calyx. Silene invisa, a Californian species, is similar to S. drummondii, some plants of which, from Nevada and Arizona, tend to be intermediate (see note under S. invisa).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
North American material of this arctic-alpine species has been regarded as distinct at the varietal and subspecific levels (M. L. Fernald 1940b; T. W. Böcher 1963) because it tends to be larger. However, the distinction is arbitrary, and some European material is as large as that from North America. A recent electrophoretic study (K. B. Haraldsen and J. Wesenberg 1993) of allozymes in populations from both continents provides no support for subdivision of this species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petals equaling calyx; fruiting calyces 12-15 × 4-6 mm, 21/ 4-3 times as long as broad; seeds ca. 0.7 mm diam.; inflorescences typically (1-)3-10(-20)-flowered | subsp. drummondii |
1. Petals 11/ 1/ 2 times calyx and clearly exserted from it; fruiting calyces 13-18 × 6-8 mm, ca. 2 times as long as broad; seeds ca. 1 mm diam.; inflorescences typically 1-4(-8)-flowered | subsp. striata |
BC
CalFlora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
