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common catchfly, silène de france, small-flower catchfly, windmill campion, windmill pink

bladder campion, evening catchfly, silène blanc, white campion, white campion or cockle, white cockle

Habit Plants annual; taproot slender. Plants annual or short-lived perennial; taproot woody.
Stems

erect, branched, rarely simple, 15–45 cm, with long, often crinkled hairs mixed with short pubescence, viscid-glandular distally.

erect or decumbent at base, branched, to 100 cm, finely hirsute, glandular-puberulent distally.

Leaves

2 per node, blade with coarse, ascending, scabrous pubescence on both surfaces;

basal few, withering, blade oblanceolate to spatulate-petiolate, 0.5–5 cm × 3–15 mm;

cauline blades oblanceolate to lanceolate, 1–7 cm × 1–15 mm, apex obtuse or shortly acuminate to acute.

blade hirsute on both surfaces;

basal usually withering by flowering time, petiolate, blade oblong-lanceolate to elliptic;

cauline sessile, reduced into inflorescence, blade lanceolate to elliptic, 3–12 cm × 6–30 mm, apex acute.

Inflorescences

open, with racemose branches, internodes and bracts usually ca. equaling fruiting calyx, 1–5 mm, longer proximally.

several–many-flowered (fewer in pistillate plants), open, dichasial cymes, bracteate;

bracts much reduced, lanceolate, herbaceous.

Pedicels

1–5 cm.

Flowers

5–8 mm diam.;

calyx prominently 10-veined, narrowly tubular-ovoid in flower, ovoid in fruit, constricted at mouth, 7–10 × 3–5 mm, membranous between veins, margins dentate, hispid, hairs ca. 2 mm, veins parallel, lobes lanceolate, 2–2.5 mm, apex greenish purple, acute;

petals white or pink, often with dark spot or dark pink throughout, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb elliptic to obovate, lobed or unlobed, to 6 mm, appendages 2, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm;

stamens equaling or shorter than calyx;

stigmas 3, included in calyx.

unisexual, some plants having only staminate flowers, others having only pistillate flowers, fragrant, 25–35 mm diam.; in veined staminate plants subsessile to short-pedicellate, in pistillate plants pedicellate;

calyx prominently 10-veined in staminate flowers, 20-veined in pistillate, tubular, becoming ovate in pistillate flowers, 10–20(–24) × 8–15 mm in fruit, margins dentate, hirsute and shortly glandular-pubescent, lobes to 6 mm, broadly ovate with apex obtuse, to lanceolate with apex acuminate;

petals white, broadly obovate, ca. 2 times calyx, limb spreading, unlobed to 2-lobed;

stamens equaling to slightly longer than calyx;

stigmas (4–)5, slightly longer than calyx.

Capsules

equaling calyx, opening with 6 recurved, narrowly triangular teeth;

carpophore shorter than 1 mm, pubescent.

ovate, ca. equaling calyx, opening by (4–)5, spreading to slightly reflexed, 2-fid teeth;

carpophore 1–2 mm.

Seeds

dark reddish brown, reniform, angular with concave, radially ridged faces, broad outer edge transversely ridged and verrucose, ca. 0.5 mm broad.

dark gray-brown, reniform-rotund, plump, ca. 1.5 mm, coarsely tuberculate.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Silene gallica

Silene latifolia

Phenology Flowering spring–early summer. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Dry, open places, sandy and gravelly ground, roadsides, waste land Arable land, roadsides, waste land
Elevation 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft) 0-2800 m (0-9200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AZ; CA; FL; ID; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NH; NY; OR; PA; RI; SC; TX; WA; BC; NB; NS; ON; PE; Europe [Introduced in North America; introduced worldwide]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; SPM; Greenland; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

European botanists recognize several subspecies of Silene latifolia, at least two of which appear to occur in North America: subsp. latifolia [S. alba subsp. divaricata (Reichenbach) Walters], a commonly occurring form here, with acuminate calyx teeth and patent to recurved capsule teeth; and subsp. alba (Miller) Greuter & Burdet, less common in North America, with short, obtuse calyx teeth and erect teeth in the dehisced capsule. However, most of our material tends to be intermediate, making recognition of subspecies here of little value. Presumably there has been extensive gene exchange between populations of this outbreeding species since its introduction into North America.

The name Silene latifolia has been misapplied to S. vulgaris by some authors, which has been a cause of confusion.

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 185. FNA vol. 5, p. 191.
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. csereii, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. drummondii, S. flos-cuculi, 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. 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
Synonyms S. anglica, S. quinquevulnera Lychnis alba, Lychnis ×loveae, Lychnis vespertina, Melandrium album, Melandrium dioicum subsp. alba, S. alba, S. latifolia subsp. alba, S. pratensis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 417. (1753) Poiret: Voy. Barbarie 2: 165. (1789)
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