Silene ovata |
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Blue Ridge catchfly, ovate-leaf campion or catchfly, ovate-leaf catchfly |
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Habit | Plants perennial, rhizomatous; rhizome creeping. |
Stems | erect, usually simple, 30–150 cm, with short, dense, eglandular pubescence, sparsely so toward base. |
Leaves | sessile, 2 per node; blade prominently 3–5-veined, ovate-acuminate, round at base, (4–)6–10(–13) cm × (20–)30–50(–90) mm, appressed-pubescent on both surfaces. |
Inflorescences | paniculate, narrow, many-flowered, open, bracteate, pedunculate, 10–50 × 3–5 cm, densely puberulent; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 3–15 mm, apex acuminate; peduncle ascending. |
Pedicels | ascending, recurved near apex, ca. equaling calyx. |
Flowers | nocturnal; calyx prominently 10-veined, tubular to narrowly campanulate and 6–9 × 3–4 mm in flower, turbinate and 10–12 × 4–5 mm in fruit, narrowed proximally around carpophore, veins parallel, green, broad, with pale commissures, puberulent, sometimes with few glands, lobes triangular-acute, 2–3 mm; corolla white, clawed, claw equaling calyx, broadened into limb, limb obtriangular, deeply lobed, 7–9 mm, lobes ca. 8, linear, appendages minute; stamens slightly longer than corolla; styles 3, ca. 2 times as long as corolla. |
Capsules | narrowly ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 3 (splitting into 6) ascending teeth; carpophore 2–2.5 mm. |
Seeds | dark brown, reniform, 0.8–1.5 mm, shallowly tuberculate. |
2n | = 48. |
Silene ovata |
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Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Rich woods |
Elevation | 1000-1900 m (3300-6200 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; GA; KY; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. Silene ovata is a very distinctive species with large, ovate, acuminate, sessile, paired leaves, and very narrowly lobed white petals. The flowers open at night and are moth-pollinated. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 316. (1813) |
Web links |