Silene suksdorfii
Silene nivea
Cascade alpine campion, Cascade alpine catchfly, Cascade catchfly, Suksdorf's catchfly, Suksdorf's silene
evening campion, snowy campion
numerous, erect, simple, 3–15 cm, pubescent, viscid-glandular distally.
erect, simple to sparingly branched, leafy, 20–70 cm, glabrous to puberulent, especially distally.
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.
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.
flowers terminal, solitary, or in single dichotomy, bracteate;
bracts leaflike, 3–15 mm.
cymose, (1–)3–5(–12)-flowered, open, leafy.
erect, ca. equaling calyx, viscid glandular-pubescent, hairs with purple septa.
1/2–21/2 times calyx, apex often becoming deflexed, glabrous to hirsute.
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.
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.
equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) teeth;
carpophore 2.5–3.5 mm.
globose, equaling calyx, opening by 3 broad teeth that sometimes split to form 6;
carpophore 5–6 mm.
brown, broadly winged, reniform, 1–2 mm, rugose-tessellate.
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.
= 48.
= 48.
Silene suksdorfii
Silene nivea
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.)
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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