Silene ovata
Silene suecica
Blue Ridge catchfly, ovate-leaf campion or catchfly, ovate-leaf catchfly
alpine pink, catchfly, lychnide alpine
erect, usually simple, 30–150 cm, with short, dense, eglandular pubescence, sparsely so toward base.
erect, simple, 5–35 cm, glabrous or very sparsely short-pubescent.
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 crowded, blade narrowly oblanceolate, 1–5 cm × 1–5 mm, tapered into broad ciliate base, apex acute;
cauline in 2–5 pairs, sessile, connate proximally, blade narrowly lanceolate, 1–4 cm × 2–7 mm, margins ciliate, 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, congested, 6–30-flowered, bracteate, pedunculate, often with smaller pedunculate branches in distal nodes;
bracts purple, lanceolate, 2–20 mm;
peduncle glabrous to sparsely puberulent.
ascending, recurved near apex, ca. equaling calyx.
glabrous to sparsely puberulent.
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.
sessile or short-petiolate, 5–10 mm diam.;
calyx purple, faintly 10-veined, campanulate, 4–6 × 3–5 mm, base attenuate into pedicel, lobes ovate, 1–1.5 mm, margins broad, membranous, apex obtuse;
corolla bright pink (rarely white), limb spreading, 2-lobed to middle, 3.5–7 mm, cuneate into claw, ca. 11/4–11/2 times calyx, appendages absent;
stamens ca. equaling petals;
stigmas 5, ca. equaling petals.
narrowly ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 3 (splitting into 6) ascending teeth;
carpophore 2–2.5 mm.
ovoid, equaling to slightly longer than calyx, opening by 5 recurved teeth;
carpophore ca. 1 mm.
dark brown, reniform, 0.8–1.5 mm, shallowly tuberculate.
dark brown, reniform, 0.5–0.8 mm, verrucate with crescent-shaped pattern.
= 48.
= 24.
Silene ovata
Silene suecica
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.)
North American material of this arctic-alpine species has been regarded as distinct at the varietal and subspecific levels (M. L. Fernald 1940b; T. W. Böcher 1963) because it tends to be larger. However, the distinction is arbitrary, and some European material is as large as that from North America. A recent electrophoretic study (K. B. Haraldsen and J. Wesenberg 1993) of allozymes in populations from both continents provides no support for subdivision of this species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
