Silene ovata
Silene subciliata
Blue Ridge catchfly, ovate-leaf campion or catchfly, ovate-leaf catchfly
Louisiana catchfly, prairie-fire pink, scarlet catchfly
erect, usually simple, 30–150 cm, with short, dense, eglandular pubescence, sparsely so toward base.
erect, scarcely branched, 20–100 cm, glabrous.
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.
blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 3–16 cm × 3–12 mm, ± fleshy, base tapering into short petiole, apex acute, glabrous except for few cilia at base.
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, terminal and axillary, elongate, 1–3-flowered, open, bracteate, bracteolate, pedunculate;
peduncle slender, 2–10 cm;
bracts and bracteoles much-reduced, linear-lanceolate, often ciliate.
ascending, recurved near apex, ca. equaling calyx.
slender, 2–10 cm.
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 tubular, 17–22 × 4–5 mm in flower, broadening to 7 mm in fruit but contracted around carpophore, glabrous, lobes lanceolate, 3–4 mm, margins membranous and ciliate near broad, obtuse apex;
corolla scarlet, 2–21/2 times longer than calyx, limb lanceolate, narrowed into claw, 4–5 mm wide, margins entire or shallowly dentate, appendages linear, 4–5 mm;
stamens exserted;
styles 3, exserted.
narrowly ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 3 (splitting into 6) ascending teeth;
carpophore 2–2.5 mm.
clavate, equaling calyx, opening by 6 teeth;
carpophore 3–4 mm.
dark brown, reniform, 0.8–1.5 mm, shallowly tuberculate.
brown, broadly reniform, 2–2.3 mm, rugose.
= 48.
= 48.
Silene ovata
Silene subciliata
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 subciliata, a very rare species, is closely related to S. laciniata and S. virginica but is readily distinguished by its subglabrous stems and leaves and by having unlobed petals.
Silene subciliata is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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