Silene ovata
Silene sorensenis
Blue Ridge catchfly, ovate-leaf campion or catchfly, ovate-leaf catchfly
sorensen's catchfly, three-flower campion
erect, usually simple, 30–150 cm, with short, dense, eglandular pubescence, sparsely so toward base.
simple below flowering region, stout, 5–30 cm, pubescent, viscid-glandular, densely so distally, ciliate at nodes, hairs with purple septa.
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.
basal petiolate, tufted, petiole to length of blade, broad, blade oblanceolate, 1–8 cm × 2–8 mm, fleshy, base blunt, tapering into petiole, margins ciliate, apex ± acute, glabrous (rarely pubescent) on both surfaces;
cauline in 1–2 pairs, sessile, connate proximally, blade narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 5–30 × 1.5–5 mm, apex purple-tipped, ± acute, pubescence as in basal leaves.
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, single, terminal, congested, 1–3-flowered, bracteate, rarely with 1 or 2 flowers in axil of mid-stem leaves (occasionally branched with 2 or 3 erect, elongate branches), densely woolly with purple septate hairs of various lengths, longest equaling pedicel diam.;
bracts leaflike, lanceolate, 4–10 mm.
ascending, recurved near apex, ca. equaling calyx.
stout, usually much shorter than calyx, rarely to 2 times as long, or flowers sessile.
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 broadly 10-veined, ovate-campanulate, ca. 10 × 6 mm in flower, enlarging to 15 × 10 mm in fruit, base round, narrowed to ca. 1/2 its diam. at mouth, margins dentate, teeth purple, ovate-obtuse, ca. 2 mm, pubescence densely glandular, viscid, partially obscuring the broad veins;
corolla white to dingy pink, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb obovate, 2-lobed, 3–5 mm, appendages 2, oblong, ca. 1 mm, margins crenulate;
stamens equaling petals;
styles 5, equaling petals.
narrowly ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 3 (splitting into 6) ascending teeth;
carpophore 2–2.5 mm.
included in calyx, dehiscing by 5 teeth, often splitting into 10;
carpophore 1–1.5 mm.
dark brown, reniform, 0.8–1.5 mm, shallowly tuberculate.
brown, not winged, triangular-reniform, ca. 1 mm, spinose-papillate.
= 48.
= 72.
Silene ovata
Silene sorensenis
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.)
Silene sorensenis usually is readily separable from most other arctic silenes by the dense purplish pubescence that tends to obscure its calyx venation, the nonwinged seeds, and the congested flowers. Specimens of S. taimyrensis in the western arctic can resemble S. sorensenis but are distinguishable by their smaller seeds and calyx, more-slender stems, and hairs that are shorter than the diameter of the pedicel. Apparent hybrids with S. involucrata are occasionally encountered. A. Nygren (1951) considered S. sorensenis to be of amphidiploid origin involving S. uralensis and S. involucrata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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