Silene gallica |
Silene williamsii |
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common catchfly, silène de france, small-flower catchfly, windmill campion, windmill pink |
Williams' catchfly |
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Habit | Plants annual; taproot slender. | Plants perennial; taproot slender; rootstock much-branched. |
Stems | erect, branched, rarely simple, 15–45 cm, with long, often crinkled hairs mixed with short pubescence, viscid-glandular distally. |
several–many, decumbent to erect, much-branched and sometimes matted, leafy, 5–30 cm, pubescent and glandular, at least 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. |
2 per node, leafy above, sessile; blade narrowly lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, broadest proximally, narrowed to base, 1–5 cm × 3–8 mm, apex acute, short-pubescent and ± glandular on both surfaces. |
Inflorescences | open, with racemose branches, internodes and bracts usually ca. equaling fruiting calyx, 1–5 mm, longer proximally. |
cymose, loose, leafy, compound, or flowers terminal, axillary in distal nodes. |
Pedicels | 0.5–1(–3) cm, glandular-pubescent. |
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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. |
unisexual, all plants having both staminate and pistillate flowers; calyx obscurely 10-veined, ovate-campanulate, 9–11 × 4–6 mm, herbaceous, papery, pubescence rather dense, glandular, ± obscuring veins, veins slender, without conspicuous pale commissures, lobes lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, apex acute to acuminate; corolla white, clawed, claw shorter than calyx, limb oblong, 2-lobed, 1.5–3 mm, lobes lanceolate, apex acute, appendages linear, 0.3–0.5 mm; stamens equaling corolla; stigmas 3, slender, equaling corolla, papillate only at tip. |
Capsules | equaling calyx, opening with 6 recurved, narrowly triangular teeth; carpophore shorter than 1 mm, pubescent. |
straw colored, ovoid-ellipsoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 6 teeth; carpophore ca. 1 mm. |
Seeds | dark reddish brown, reniform, angular with concave, radially ridged faces, broad outer edge transversely ridged and verrucose, ca. 0.5 mm broad. |
dull brown, not winged, angular-reniform, ca. 1 mm, tuberculate. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Silene gallica |
Silene williamsii |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Dry, open places, sandy and gravelly ground, roadsides, waste land | Heaths, disturbed ground, river gravel and bluffs, roadsides |
Elevation | 0-2000 m [0-6600 ft] | 100-700 m [300-2300 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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AK; YT |
Discussion | Silene williamsii is similar to S. menziesii but is readily separated by its leaves, which are broadest below the middle, its dull tuberculate seeds, and its stigmas, which are papillate only at the tip. It is also monoecious instead of functionally dioecious. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 185. | FNA vol. 5, p. 213. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. anglica, S. quinquevulnera | S. menziesii subsp. williamsii, S. menziesii var. williamsii |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 417. (1753) | Britton: Bull. New York Bot. Gard. 2: 168. (1901) |
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