Silene ovata
Silene seelyi
Blue Ridge catchfly, ovate-leaf campion or catchfly, ovate-leaf catchfly
Seely's catchfly, Seely's catchfly or silene, Seely's silene
erect, usually simple, 30–150 cm, with short, dense, eglandular pubescence, sparsely so toward base.
numerous, decumbent to ascending, branched, tufted, leafy, slender, 5–30 cm.
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.
2 per node, sessile or nearly so, blade reticulate-veined, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, thin, 0.8–2 cm × 3–8 mm, broadest proximally, base rounded, apex acute.
paniculate, narrow, many-flowered, open, bracteate, pedunculate, 10–50 × 3–5 cm, densely puberulent;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 3–15 mm, apex acuminate;
peduncle ascending.
cymose, open, compound, leafy, single flowers borne terminally and in axils of distal leaves;
bracteoles, when present, 2.
ascending, recurved near apex, ca. equaling calyx.
straight, slender, 1/2–3 times longer than calyx.
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, obscurely 10-veined, narrowly campanulate, in fruit 6–9 × 3–4 mm, herbaceous, pubescent, veins without conspicuous pale commissures;
lobes triangular, 2–3 mm;
corolla dark red, sometimes white, clawed, claw slightly longer than calyx, limb deeply 2-lobed, 2–3 mm, appendages 2, very small;
stamens exserted;
styles 3, exserted.
narrowly ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 3 (splitting into 6) ascending teeth;
carpophore 2–2.5 mm.
ellipsoid, included in calyx, opening by 6 teeth;
carpophore ca. 1.5 mm.
dark brown, reniform, 0.8–1.5 mm, shallowly tuberculate.
brown, not winged, broadly reniform, flattened, ca. 0.8 mm, reticulate.
= 48.
= 24.
Silene ovata
Silene seelyi
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.)
Of conservation concern.
Silene seelyi is confined to the Wenatchee Mountains. It closely related to S. menziesii, but is distinguished by its usually dark red flowers and broadly lanceolate leaves.
Silene seelyi is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
