Silene noctiflora |
Silene chalcedonica |
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night-flowering campion, night-flowering catchfly, nightflowering silene, silène noctiflore, sticky cockle |
croix de jérusalem, lychnide de chalcédoine, Maltese-cross, scarlet lychnis |
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Habit | Plants annual, densely pubescent throughout, viscid-glandular, especially distally; taproot slender. | Plants perennial, coarse, rhizomatous; rhizome branched, stout. |
Stems | erect, simple proximal to inflorescence or with few basal branches, branched distally, to 75 cm. |
erect, few-branched, 50–100 cm, hispid. |
Leaves | 2 per node, gradually reduced distally; basal blades oblanceolate, 6–12(–14) cm × 20–45 mm; cauline blades ascending, conspicuously veined, broadly elliptic to lanceolate, 1–11 cm × 3–40 mm, apex acute, shortly acuminate, densely pubescent on both surfaces. |
rounded into tightly sessile base; blade lanceolate to ovate, 5–12 cm × 20–60 mm, apex acute, sparsely scabrous-pubescent on both surfaces, scabrous-ciliate on abaxial margins and midrib; basal leaf blades broadly spatulate. |
Inflorescences | cymose, 3–15-flowered, bracteate; cyme open, flowers held on ascending branches; bracts leaflike, narrowly lanceolate, 1–5 cm, apex acuminate. |
subcapitate between terminal pair of leaves, 10–50-flowered, congested, bracteate; bracts lanceolate, herbaceous, ciliate. |
Pedicels | ascending, straight, 1/3–3 times longer than calyx. |
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Flowers | nocturnal, 20–25 mm diam.; calyx prominently 10-veined, ovate-elliptic, fusiform, narrowed to both ends and constricted around carpophore, 15–24(–40) × ca. 3 mm in flower, swelling to 10 mm diam. in fruit, thin and papery, margins dentate, with pale commissures; lobes erect, often recurved in fruit, linear-lanceolate, long, narrow, (3–)5–10(–15) mm, apex acuminate, short-pubescent, glandular, interspersed with long eglandular hairs, veins anastomosing; corolla white, often pink tinged, clawed, claw equaling calyx lobes, limb deeply 2-lobed, lobes usually narrow, appendages 0.5–1.5 mm broad, margins entire or erose; stamens shorter than petals; styles 3, shorter than petals. |
sessile to subsessile, 10–16 mm diam.; calyx 10-veined, narrow and tubular in flower, clavate in fruit, 12–17 mm, margins dentate, lobes triangular-lanceolate, 2.5–2.5 mm, coarsely hirsute; petals scarlet, sometimes white or pink, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb spreading, obovate, deeply 2-lobed, 6–11 mm, shorter than calyx, appendages tubular, 2–3 mm; stamens equaling calyx; stigmas 5, equaling calyx. |
Capsules | ovoid, constricted at mouth, equaling or slightly longer than calyx tube, opening by 6 recurved teeth; carpophore 1–3 mm. |
ovoid, 8–10 mm, opening by 5 teeth; carpophore 4–6 mm. |
Seeds | dark brown to black, with gray bloom, broadly reniform, 0.8–1 mm, strongly tuberculate. |
dark reddish brown, reniform-rotund, 0.7–1 mm diam., coarsely papillate; papillae ca. as high as wide. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24 (Europe). |
Silene noctiflora |
Silene chalcedonica |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Arable land, disturbed ground | Roadsides, waste places, open woodlands |
Elevation | 0-3000 m (0-9800 ft) | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; AL; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; IA; ID; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NY; PA; VT; WI; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Silene noctiflora is sometimes confused with S. latifolia, but they are very different species. Silene noctiflora differs in having perfect flowers with long, very narrow calyx teeth and an elliptic, fruiting calyx that is narrow at the mouth and constricted around the capsule base. It also has three styles and a capsule that dehisces by six teeth; S. latifolia has (four or) five styles and a capsule that dehisces by five bifid teeth. The flowers of S. noctiflora, as its name indicates, are nocturnal and moth-pollinated. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Silene chalcedonica is widely cultivated but rarely escapes and probably does not persist. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 194. | FNA vol. 5, p. 179. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Melandrium noctiflorum | Lychnis chalcedonica, Agrostemma chalcedonica |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 419. (1753) | (Linnaeus) E. H. L. Krause: in J. Sturm et al., Deutsch. Fl. ed. 2, 5: 96. (1901) |
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