Silene petersonii
Silene repens
Peterson's campion or catchfly, plateau catchfly
creeping silene, pink campion
simple, 5–15 cm, pubescent and viscid, with stipitate glands.
erect to straggling, branched or simple, leafy, 7–35 cm, retrorse-puberulent.
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.
2 per node, sessile, blade 1-veined, linear, lanceolate, or narrowly oblong, tapered to base, apex acute, puberulent on both surfaces.
usually with solitary terminal flower, sometimes cymose, to 8-flowered, open.
cymose, compound, ca. (2–)5–20-flowered, usually compact, bracteate;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2–15 mm.
erect or angled near tip with flowers slightly nodding, 1–3 times longer than calyx, glandular-puberulent, often densely so.
ascending, 0.1–1(–2) cm, shorter or longer than calyx, eglandular or with scattered glands, pubescence white, dense, short.
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.
calyx obscurely 10-veined, tubular-campanulate, 10–15 × 3–5 mm in flower, becoming clavate and 5–6 mm broad in fruit, herbaceous, villous, veins purple tinged or entirely purple, without conspicuous pale commissures, lobes ovate, 1–2.5 mm, margins broad, scarious, apex obtuse;
corolla rose pink, rarely white, clawed, claw equaling calyx, broadened distally, limb obconic, 2-lobed, 3–7 mm, appendages 0.7–1.2 mm;
stamens equaling calyx;
styles 3(–4), exserted.
equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8 or 10) lanceolate teeth;
carpophore 1–2.5 mm.
ovoid, equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) spreading teeth;
carpophore 4–7 mm.
brown, broadly reniform, flattened, 2–2.5 mm, rugose, more coarsely so on margins.
grayish brown, not winged, reniform, 0.8–1 mm, rugose on sides, margins shortly papillate.
= 96.
= 24, 48.
Silene petersonii
Silene repens
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.)
Of conservation concern.
Three subspecies have been recognized within Silene repens on the basis of stature and the development of purple pigment in the calyx. Northern populations in the flora area have been referred to subsp. purpurata because of the unusually heavy pigment of the calyx, while the disjunct populations in the central Rocky Mountains have been recognized as subsp. australis. However, both of these forms occur among collections from Eurasia that have been referred to subsp. repens. When material from populations of subsp. purpurata was grown farther south, it took on the appearance of subsp. australis, suggesting that the differences are under environmental influence.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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USDA Plants Database
BC
PNW Herbaria
