Silene gallica |
Silene verecunda |
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common catchfly, silène de france, small-flower catchfly, windmill campion, windmill pink |
Dolores campion, San Francisco campion |
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Habit | Plants annual; taproot slender. | Plants perennial; taproot stout; caudex branched, woody. |
Stems | erect, branched, rarely simple, 15–45 cm, with long, often crinkled hairs mixed with short pubescence, viscid-glandular distally. |
usually several–many, rarely 1, erect, leafy, 10–55 cm, base often decumbent with marcescent leaf bases, scabrous-puberulent to pubescent, usually ± viscid-glandular distally, rarely densely so. |
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. |
2 per node; basal petiolate, blade linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3–10 cm × 2–13 mm (including petiole), apex acute, glabrous to scabrous-puberulent or softly pubescent, petiole often ciliate; cauline sessile or petiolate, connate proximally, reduced distally, blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 2–10 cm × 2–8 mm. |
Inflorescences | open, with racemose branches, internodes and bracts usually ca. equaling fruiting calyx, 1–5 mm, longer proximally. |
cymose with elongate ascending branches, open, flowers (1–)3 to many, bracteate, bracteolate; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate, 3–20 mm, apex acuminate. |
Pedicels | 1/4–3 times longer than calyx, scabrous-puberulous to pubescent and glandular, ± viscid. |
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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. |
calyx prominently 10-veined, tubular in flower, ± clavate and contracted around carpophore in fruit, 10–14 × 4–6 mm, margins dentate, veins parallel, green (rarely purplish), with pale commissures, lobes ascending, lanceolate, 2–3 mm, margins usually with obtuse, membranous border, apex spreading, shortly glandular-pubescent, usually viscid; corolla off-white (greenish) to dusky pink, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb obovate, 2-lobed, 3–7 mm, shorter than claw, rarely with small lateral teeth, appendages 2, usually lacerate, 1–2 mm; stamens ca. equaling petals; styles 3(–4), often much longer than petals. |
Capsules | equaling calyx, opening with 6 recurved, narrowly triangular teeth; carpophore shorter than 1 mm, pubescent. |
ovoid-ellipsoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) recurved teeth; carpophore 2–5 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 reddish brown to black, reniform, ca. 1.5 mm, papillate, with larger papillae around margins. |
2n | = 24. |
= 48. |
Silene gallica |
Silene verecunda |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Dry, open places, sandy and gravelly ground, roadsides, waste land | Meadows, chaparral, sagebush, open woodlands, dry pine forests, alpine ridges, dry canyons |
Elevation | 0-2000 m [0-6600 ft] | 0-3400 m [0-11200 ft] |
Distribution |
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]
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AZ; CA; NV; OR; UT; Mexico
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Discussion | Silene verecunda is an exceptionally variable species, very difficult to circumscribe and tending to intergrade with S. bernardina, S. oregana, and S. grayi. It differs from the first two of those species mainly in having two-lobed petals. Silene grayi is a much smaller cespitose alpine plant with very large seeds. Hitchcock and Maguire divided S. verecunda into subsp. verecunda, subsp. platyota, and subsp. andersonii. Of these, subsp. andersonii is the most distinct, with a scabrous-puberulent indumentum, very narrow, stiff leaves, and rigid stems that are decumbent at the base, with marcescent leaf bases. The claw of the petals also is often more uniformly ciliate. Subspecies verecunda has a very different appearance, its mature calyx being shorter, broader, and markedly clavate. It is a short, stocky, viscid-glandular plant of exposed coastal habitats and may simply be a local ecotype. Subspecies platyota encompasses the remainder of the variation in the complex. Most of this variation consists of plants with fewer flowering stems; softer pubescence; broader, flat leaves; and thinner, more papery calyces. All these forms of S. verecunda appear to intergrade freely and, based on current information, any separation would be arbitrary. The species is in need of an experimental study to determine the nature of variation and its taxonomic value. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 185. | FNA vol. 5, p. 211. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. anglica, S. quinquevulnera | S. andersonii, S. behrii, S. luisana, S. occidentalis var. nancta, S. platyota, S. verecunda subsp. andersonii, S. verecunda var. eglandulosa, S. verecunda subsp. platyota, S. verecunda var. platyota |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 417. (1753) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 344. (1875) |
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