Silene seelyi
Silene nivea
Seely's catchfly, Seely's catchfly or silene, Seely's silene
evening campion, snowy campion
numerous, decumbent to ascending, branched, tufted, leafy, slender, 5–30 cm.
erect, simple to sparingly branched, leafy, 20–70 cm, glabrous to puberulent, especially distally.
2 per node, sessile or nearly so, blade reticulate-veined, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, thin, 0.8–2 cm × 3–8 mm, broadest proximally, base rounded, apex acute.
2 per node, sessile or short-petiolate, largest near mid-stem region, reduced and withering proximally, blade elliptic-lanceolate, base cuneate or rounded, apex gradually acuminate and acute, glabrous to puberulent.
cymose, open, compound, leafy, single flowers borne terminally and in axils of distal leaves;
bracteoles, when present, 2.
cymose, (1–)3–5(–12)-flowered, open, leafy.
straight, slender, 1/2–3 times longer than calyx.
1/2–21/2 times calyx, apex often becoming deflexed, glabrous to hirsute.
calyx green, obscurely 10-veined, narrowly campanulate, in fruit 6–9 × 3–4 mm, herbaceous, pubescent, veins without conspicuous pale commissures;
lobes triangular, 2–3 mm;
corolla dark red, sometimes white, clawed, claw slightly longer than calyx, limb deeply 2-lobed, 2–3 mm, appendages 2, very small;
stamens exserted;
styles 3, exserted.
calyx green, obscurely 10-veined, broadly tubular to campanulate, ± constricted at base around carpophore with broad umbilicate base, becoming broadly clavate in fruit, 14–17 × 5–9 mm, herbaceous, glabrous or hirsute, veins green, without pale commissures, lobes triangular, 2–3 mm;
corolla white, clawed, claw equaling calyx, expanded distally into 2-lobed limb, limb oblong, 6–7 mm, appendages oblong, 1–1.6 mm, margins ± entire;
stamens short-exserted;
stigmas 3, short-exserted.
ellipsoid, included in calyx, opening by 6 teeth;
carpophore ca. 1.5 mm.
globose, equaling calyx, opening by 3 broad teeth that sometimes split to form 6;
carpophore 5–6 mm.
brown, not winged, broadly reniform, flattened, ca. 0.8 mm, reticulate.
dark brown to black, with grayish bloom, broadly reniform, not winged, 0.7–1 mm, sides with concentric crescents of low tubercles, larger and deeper on outer margins.
= 24.
= 48.
Silene seelyi
Silene nivea
Of conservation concern.
Silene seelyi is confined to the Wenatchee Mountains. It closely related to S. menziesii, but is distinguished by its usually dark red flowers and broadly lanceolate leaves.
Silene seelyi is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The green, obscurely veined, umbilicate calyx with its broad base constricted around the carpophore is unique among the North American members of the genus. Silene nivea is occasionally weedy. It was introduced near Québec City (ca. 1969) but did not persist, and probably is not native also in Maine.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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