Silene ovata |
Silene laciniata |
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue Ridge catchfly, ovate-leaf campion or catchfly, ovate-leaf catchfly |
cardinal catchfly, Indian pink, Mexican campion, Mexican pink, Mexican pink or campion |
|||||||||
Habit | Plants perennial, rhizomatous; rhizome creeping. | Plants perennial; taproot thick, fleshy; caudex branched. | ||||||||
Stems | erect, usually simple, 30–150 cm, with short, dense, eglandular pubescence, sparsely so toward base. |
1–several, straggling to erect, sometimes decumbent at base, simple or much-branched distally, 20–120 cm, puberulent or scabrous-pubescent, sometimes retrorse, often glandular distally, becoming glabrate proximally. |
||||||||
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 narrowed at base into pseudopetiole, blade pubescent on both surfaces; proximal with blade lanceolate and oblanceolate, broadest distally or distal often reduced, cauline longest near mid stem, blade linear to lanceolate or elliptic, 1.5–10 cm × 2–30 mm. |
||||||||
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. |
from 1-flowered to simple dichotomy to compound and 3–5–many-flowered with elongate branches; bracts small, linear-lanceolate, or resembling leaves. |
||||||||
Pedicels | ascending, recurved near apex, ca. equaling calyx. |
elongate, much exceeding 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. |
calyx green, 10-veined, broadly tubular, 12–25 × 4–8 mm in flower, narrower towards base, middle broadening to 6–13 mm in fruit, narrower at both ends, pubescent, glandular, lobes lanceolate, 2.5–5 mm, margins membranous or not, apex ± obtuse; corolla scarlet, clawed, claw equaling or longer than calyx, limb lobed, often deeply so, lobes 4–6, linear, lanceolate, or oblong, small lateral teeth may be present, 6–15 mm, appendages inconspicuous, 1–2 mm, dentate; stamens longer than corolla claw but shorter than lobes; stigmas 3, equaling corolla. |
||||||||
Capsules | narrowly ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 3 (splitting into 6) ascending teeth; carpophore 2–2.5 mm. |
oblong to ovoid or broadly tubular, equaling calyx, opening by 6 ascending teeth; carpophore 2–4 mm. |
||||||||
Seeds | dark brown, reniform, 0.8–1.5 mm, shallowly tuberculate. |
reddish brown, broadly reniform, 1.7–2.3 mm, sides tuberculate, margins papillate. |
||||||||
2n | = 48. |
|||||||||
Silene ovata |
Silene laciniata |
|||||||||
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
|
AZ; CA; NM; TX; Mexico
|
||||||||
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 3 (3 in the flora). The large, beautiful scarlet flowers of Silene laciniata are bird- and butterfly-pollinated. The species occurs in three forms. Subspecies laciniata has narrow leaves, much-branched and many-flowered, open inflorescences, and oblong capsules. Subspecies californica has ovate to lanceolate leaves, few-flowered inflorescences, and ovoid capsules. These two entities both occur in California and Mexico. Although they are usually distinguishable, apparent intermediates occur. The third entity is subsp. greggii, which occurs in Arizona, southwestern Texas, and Mexico. It combines characters of the other two subspecies, having broader leaves, a branched and many-flowered open inflorescence, and a capsule of intermediate shape. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 5. | FNA vol. 5, p. 189. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Melandrium laciniatum | |||||||||
Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 316. (1813) | Cavanilles: Icon. 6: 44, plate 564. (1801) | ||||||||
Web links |