Silene petersonii |
Caryophyllaceae subfam. caryophylloideae |
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Peterson's campion or catchfly, plateau catchfly |
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Habit | Plants perennial, rhizomatous; caudex thick, with many rhizomatous, creeping, branched, slender subterranean shoots, terminating in tight tufts of leaves and erect flowering stems. | Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial; taprooted or rhizomatous, sometimes stoloniferous. |
Stems | simple, 5–15 cm, pubescent and viscid, with stipitate glands. |
erect or ascending, seldom sprawling, decumbent, or prostrate, simple or branched. |
Leaves | basal with blade 1-veined, oblanceolate, broadly spatulate, 1–4 cm × 2–8 mm, apex obtuse to acute, glandular-puberulent throughout, rarely subglabrous adaxially; cauline in 3–6 pairs, sessile, reduced distally, blade lanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or oblanceolate, 2–4 cm × 2–8 mm, apex ± acute, glandular-puberulent throughout. |
opposite, rarely whorled, connate proximally, petiolate (basal leaves) or often sessile, not stipulate; blade linear or subulate to ovate, not succulent or rarely so (Silene). |
Inflorescences | usually with solitary terminal flower, sometimes cymose, to 8-flowered, open. |
terminal cymes, thyrses, fascicles, or capitula, or flowers solitary, axillary; bracts foliaceous, scarious, or absent; involucel bracteoles present or often absent. |
Pedicels | erect or angled near tip with flowers slightly nodding, 1–3 times longer than calyx, glandular-puberulent, often densely so. |
present or rarely flowers sessile or subsessile. |
Flowers | calyx prominently 10-veined, campanulate, not contracted proximally around carpophore, 15–20 × 4–8 mm, papery, margins dentate, veins parallel, usually purple tinged, with pale commissures; lobes ovate, 3–5 mm, glandular-puberulent, midrib triangular, margins purple tinged, broad, membranous, apex obtuse; corolla bright pink, clawed, claw equaling calyx, broad and ligulate but abruptly contracted into limb, limb broadly cuneate, shallowly to deeply 2–4-lobed, 5–15 mm, lobes broad or narrow, appendages absent or to 2 mm, margins erose; stamens slightly longer than corolla claw; stigmas 3(–5), slightly longer than corolla claw. |
bisexual or seldom unisexual (the species then often dioecious), often conspicuous; perianth and androecium hypogynous; sepals 5, connate (1/4–)1/2+ their lengths into cup or tube, (1–)5–40(–62) mm, apex not hooded or awned; petals absent or 5, often showy, white to pink or red, usually clawed, auricles absent or sometimes present, coronal appendages sometimes present, blade apex entire or emarginate to 2-fid, sometimes dentate to lacinate; stamens (5 or) 10 (absent in pistillate flowers), in 1 or 2 whorls, arising from base of ovary; staminodes absent or rarely 1–10; ovary 1-locular, sometimes 2-locular proximally (Vaccaria), or 3–5-locular (some Silene); styles 2–3(–5) (absent in staminate flowers), distinct; stigmas 2–3(–5) (absent in staminate flowers). |
Fruits | capsules, opening by 4–6(–10) valves or teeth; carpophore usually present. |
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Capsules | equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8 or 10) lanceolate teeth; carpophore 1–2.5 mm. |
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Seeds | brown, broadly reniform, flattened, 2–2.5 mm, rugose, more coarsely so on margins. |
4–150(–500+), reddish to gray or often brown or black, usually reniform and laterally compressed to globose, sometimes oblong or shield-shaped and dorsiventrally compressed; embryo peripheral and curved, or central and straight. |
x | = 7, 10, 12, [13?,] 14, 15, 17, [18]. |
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2n | = 96. |
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Silene petersonii |
Caryophyllaceae subfam. caryophylloideae |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |
Habitat | Calcareous gravel, clay, talus, and rocks on ridges, slopes, and barren ground | |
Elevation | 2000-3400 m (6600-11200 ft) | |
Distribution |
NV; UT
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North-temperate regions; Europe (esp Mediterranean region); Asia (esp Mediterranean region e to c Asia); Africa (Mediterranean region, Republic of South Africa) |
Discussion | Of conservation concern. This beautiful alpine species is variable with respect to density of pubescence, flower size, and petal structure. As this variation occurs both within and among populations, little useful purpose is served by giving names to it. The Nevada population, which is the basis for the name Silene clokeyi, is interfertile (A. R. Kruckeberg 1961) with populations in Utah (the basis for the name S. petersonii). Accordingly, a single species is recognized here without infraspecific taxa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera 20 or 26, species ca. 1500 (8 genera, 89 species in the flora). Caryophylloideae can be characterized by the presence of sepals connate into a cup or (usually) long tube, clawed petals (often with appendages and auricles), and a lack of stipules. The largest genera in the family [Silene (incl. Lychnis), about 700 species; Dianthus, about 320 species] are in the Caryophylloideae; together with Gypsophila (about 150 species), these three genera include about three-quarters of the species found in the family. Three tribes are often differentiated on calyx venation and number of styles, with two, Caryophylleae and Sileneae, incorporating nearly all of the genera. Caryophylloideae share the caryophyllad type of embryogeny with Alsinoideae and, as postulated by V. Bittrich (1993), the two may form a monophyletic group. Results from preliminary molecular studies by M. Nepokroeff et al. (2002) and R. D. Smissen et al. (2002) reinforce that hypothesis, but the relationships among members of the two subfamilies remain unclear. Most of the molecular work within the subfamily has focused on Sileneae and more specifically on trying to determine whether or not Silene is monophyletic. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 198. | FNA vol. 5, p. 152. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | Caryophyllaceae |
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Synonyms | S. clokeyi, S. petersonii var. minor | family Caryophyllaceae subfamily Silenoideae |
Name authority | Maguire: Madroño 6: 24. (1941) | Arnott: in M. Napier, Encycl. Brit. ed. 7, 5: 99. (1832) |
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