Silene ovata |
Silene campanulata |
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Blue Ridge catchfly, ovate-leaf campion or catchfly, ovate-leaf catchfly |
bell catchfly, campanulate campion, red mountain catchfly, slender campion |
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Habit | Plants perennial, rhizomatous; rhizome creeping. | Plants perennial; taproot stout; caudex much-branched, woody, producing many erect-to-straggling, little-branched flowering shoots. | ||||
Stems | erect, usually simple, 30–150 cm, with short, dense, eglandular pubescence, sparsely so toward base. |
erect, 5–40 cm, softly pubescent to scabrous, eglandular or viscid-glandular, especially distally, very rarely glabrous, with several pairs of leaves equaling or shorter than internodes. |
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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. |
sessile, or basal with short pseudopetiole; blade linear to lanceolate or broadly ovate, base round to cuneate, apex acute to shortly acuminate, puberulent on both surfaces, sometimes glandular. |
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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. |
usually with single dichotomy, rarely double, open, bracteate, branches often elongate, flowers 1 per node; bracts foliaceous. |
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Pedicels | ascending, recurved near apex, ca. equaling calyx. |
sharply reflexed at base, especially after anthesis, equaling calyx. |
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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. |
nodding; calyx obscurely 10-veined, broadly campanulate, lobed, 6–8 mm, enlarging to 13–16 mm in fruit, herbaceous, usually with short, dense pubescence throughout, often glandular-viscid, veins green, rarely purplish tinged, conspicuous pale commissures absent; lobes ovate-triangular, 1/2 to equaling tube, herbaceous; petals creamy white, often greenish abaxially, rarely pink tinged to dusky pink (subsp. campanulata), clawed, to 2 times calyx, claw villose, limb deeply divided and fan-shaped with many narrow, linear lobes, lobes rapidly curling, margins deeply divided or erose, appendages 2–4, to 2 mm; stamens exserted; filaments hairy at base; styles 3, to 2 times calyx. |
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Capsules | narrowly ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 3 (splitting into 6) ascending teeth; carpophore 2–2.5 mm. |
ovoid, ca. equaling calyx and often splitting it, opening by 6 broadly triangular teeth; carpophore 1–2.5 mm. |
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Seeds | dark brown, reniform, 0.8–1.5 mm, shallowly tuberculate. |
brown, reniform, 2–2.5 mm broad, coarsely and ± evenly papillate; papillae ca. as long as broad. |
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2n | = 48. |
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Silene ovata |
Silene campanulata |
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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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CA; OR
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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.) |
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5. | FNA vol. 5, p. 176. | ||||
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 316. (1813) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 341. (1875) | ||||
Web links |