Silene suksdorfii
Silene involucrata
Cascade alpine campion, Cascade alpine catchfly, Cascade catchfly, Suksdorf's catchfly, Suksdorf's silene
arctic campion, arctic catchfly, Drummond's campion
numerous, erect, simple, 3–15 cm, pubescent, viscid-glandular distally.
several, erect, simple or branched, 10–45 cm, usually with 2–5 pairs of leaves.
mostly basal, densely tufted;
basal numerous, pseudopetiolate, blade narrowly oblanceolate, tapering into base, 0.5–3 cm × 1.5–4 mm, ± fleshy, apex acute, puberulent;
cauline in 1–3 pairs, ± sessile, reduced, blade narrowly oblanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 0.7–2 cm × 1–3 mm, apex acute, puberulent.
mainly basal, petiolate;
blade narrowly oblanceolate, ± spatulate, 20–60 × 3–5(–10) mm (including petiole), glabrous to pubescent, especially on margins and abaxial veins, pubescence spreading, short, stiff, mainly eglandular.
flowers terminal, solitary, or in single dichotomy, bracteate;
bracts leaflike, 3–15 mm.
1–3-flowered, open, bracteate, pubescent, usually densely so, hairs long, flexuous, purple-septate, mostly glandular;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 4–10 mm, usually pubescent.
erect, ca. equaling calyx, viscid glandular-pubescent, hairs with purple septa.
usually several times longer than calyx.
calyx prominently 10-veined, campanulate, not contracted proximally around carpophore, 10–15 × 5–7 mm, papery, veins parallel, purplish, with pale commissures, with purple-septate glandular hairs (rarely septa not purple), lobes ovate, ca. 2 mm, margins broad, membranous, apex obtuse;
corolla off-white or tinged with dusky purple, clawed, claw equaling calyx, broadened distally, limb 2-lobed, 3–5 mm, appendages ca. 1 mm;
stamens equaling calyx;
styles 3(–4), equaling calyx.
pedicellate, rarely sessile, erect, 8–16 mm diam.;
calyx prominently 10-veined, not inflated or thin, campanulate or ovate, 8–20 mm, pubescent, especially on veins, rarely almost glabrous, hairs long and short purple-septate, ± glandular, veins heavily suffused with purple (rarely green), sinuses between veins pale, cream colored;
petals white, often pink or purple tinged, claw equaling calyx, limb not differentiated from claw, emarginate to obovate, often 2-lobed, ca. 1/2 as long as calyx;
stamens included in calyx, spreading horizontally;
styles 5, included in calyx.
equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) teeth;
carpophore 2.5–3.5 mm.
equaling calyx, opening by 5 teeth, tardily splitting into 10.
brown, broadly winged, reniform, 1–2 mm, rugose-tessellate.
brown, winged, ± reniform to angular, 1–1.5 mm diam.;
wing to 1/2 seed diam.
= 48.
Silene suksdorfii
Silene involucrata
Silene suksdorfii appears to be closely related to S. parryi but differs in its broadly winged seeds, smaller size, cespitose habit, and the prominent purple-septate hairs of the calyx, although the latter occasionally are present in S. parryi. It is very similar to, and in Idaho appears to intergrade with, another alpine species, S. sargentii, which has linear leaves and lacks the purple septa in the hairs and the broad wing on the seeds. It is similar also to S. hitchguirei; see discussion under that species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Silene involucrata is a very variable circumpolar and arctic-alpine species complex. Many of the variants have been treated as species by earlier workers. Here, a single species with two subspecies is recognized.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Calyx campanulate to ovoid, 10-20 mm in fruit; flowering stems sturdy, usually less than 20 cm, internodes equaling or shorter than leaves | subsp. involucrata |
1. Calyx campanulate, 8-10(-12) mm in fruit; flowering stems slender, usually over 30 cm, internodes longer than leaves | subsp. tenella |
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