Silene spaldingii |
Silene laciniata |
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Spalding's campion, Spalding's catchfly, Spalding's catchfly or campion, Spalding's silene |
cardinal catchfly, Indian pink, Mexican campion, Mexican pink, Mexican pink or campion |
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Habit | Plants perennial, viscid; taproot stout; caudex branched, woody, producing several to many shoots. | Plants perennial; taproot thick, fleshy; caudex branched. | ||||||||
Stems | erect, branched, leafy, 20–60 cm, villose-tomentose, viscid-glandular. |
1–several, straggling to erect, sometimes decumbent at base, simple or much-branched distally, 20–120 cm, puberulent or scabrous-pubescent, sometimes retrorse, often glandular distally, becoming glabrate proximally. |
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Leaves | 2 per node, connate proximally, sessile, largest in mid stem; blade lanceolate, 3–7 cm × 5–15 mm, apex acute, glandular-tomentose throughout. |
sessile or narrowed at base into pseudopetiole, blade pubescent on both surfaces; proximal with blade lanceolate and oblanceolate, broadest distally or distal often reduced, cauline longest near mid stem, blade linear to lanceolate or elliptic, 1.5–10 cm × 2–30 mm. |
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Inflorescences | open, leafy cymes, bracteate, viscid and glandular-tomentose, branches ascending, mostly floriferous, flowers terminal and at distal nodes; bracts leaflike, 5–30 mm. |
from 1-flowered to simple dichotomy to compound and 3–5–many-flowered with elongate branches; bracts small, linear-lanceolate, or resembling leaves. |
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Pedicels | shorter than calyx. |
elongate, much exceeding calyx. |
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Flowers | calyx obscurely 10-veined, tubular-campanulate, 10–15 × 4–5 mm in flower, becoming clavate and 15–20 × 6–8 mm in fruit, narrowed toward base around carpophore, herbaceous, viscid-pubescent, veins more distinct at base, without conspicuous pale commissures, lobes narrowly lanceolate, 3–6 mm, margins very narrow, membranous, apex blunt; corolla greenish white, clawed, claw equaling calyx, widened distally, limb emarginate, 2 × 4 mm, appendages 4(–6), ca. 0.5 mm; stamens equaling petals; styles 3, equaling petals. |
calyx green, 10-veined, broadly tubular, 12–25 × 4–8 mm in flower, narrower towards base, middle broadening to 6–13 mm in fruit, narrower at both ends, pubescent, glandular, lobes lanceolate, 2.5–5 mm, margins membranous or not, apex ± obtuse; corolla scarlet, clawed, claw equaling or longer than calyx, limb lobed, often deeply so, lobes 4–6, linear, lanceolate, or oblong, small lateral teeth may be present, 6–15 mm, appendages inconspicuous, 1–2 mm, dentate; stamens longer than corolla claw but shorter than lobes; stigmas 3, equaling corolla. |
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Capsules | ellipsoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 6 teeth; carpophore 1.5–2.5 mm. |
oblong to ovoid or broadly tubular, equaling calyx, opening by 6 ascending teeth; carpophore 2–4 mm. |
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Seeds | yellowish brown, winged, reniform, ca. 2 mm, rugose; wing broad, wrinkled. |
reddish brown, broadly reniform, 1.7–2.3 mm, sides tuberculate, margins papillate. |
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2n | = 48. |
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Silene spaldingii |
Silene laciniata |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |||||||||
Habitat | Mixed prairie and ponderosa pine forests in swales and on dry hillsides | |||||||||
Elevation | 800-1100 m (2600-3600 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
ID; MT; OR; WA; BC
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AZ; CA; NM; TX; Mexico
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora). The large, beautiful scarlet flowers of Silene laciniata are bird- and butterfly-pollinated. The species occurs in three forms. Subspecies laciniata has narrow leaves, much-branched and many-flowered, open inflorescences, and oblong capsules. Subspecies californica has ovate to lanceolate leaves, few-flowered inflorescences, and ovoid capsules. These two entities both occur in California and Mexico. Although they are usually distinguishable, apparent intermediates occur. The third entity is subsp. greggii, which occurs in Arizona, southwestern Texas, and Mexico. It combines characters of the other two subspecies, having broader leaves, a branched and many-flowered open inflorescence, and a capsule of intermediate shape. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 207. | FNA vol. 5, p. 189. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | ||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Melandrium laciniatum | |||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 344. (1875) | Cavanilles: Icon. 6: 44, plate 564. (1801) | ||||||||
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