Silene suksdorfii
Silene serpentinicola
Cascade alpine campion, Cascade alpine catchfly, Cascade catchfly, Suksdorf's catchfly, Suksdorf's silene
serpentine catchfly, serpentine Indian pink
numerous, erect, simple, 3–15 cm, pubescent, viscid-glandular distally.
4–10(–15) cm, softly pubescent.
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.
cauline in 4–8 pairs, crowded;
blade gray-green, oblanceolate to obovate, spatulate, 2.5–4.5 cm × 5–15 mm, longest near middle of stem, sparsely pubescent on both surfaces, reduced and bractlike on subterranean base.
flowers terminal, solitary, or in single dichotomy, bracteate;
bracts leaflike, 3–15 mm.
terminal, 1–3(–4)-flowered cymes, densely glandular-pubescent;
bracts leaflike, (0.5–)0.7–1.1 cm.
erect, ca. equaling calyx, viscid glandular-pubescent, hairs with purple septa.
ascending and straight, (5–)7–10 mm, glandular-pubescent.
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.
ca. 30 mm diam.;
calyx purple tinged, distinctly 10-veined, tubular, inflated and expanding in fruit, 13–17 mm, densely glandular-pubescent, lobes lanceolate;
corolla scarlet, clawed, limb carmine red, turning purple on drying, ± equally deeply 2-lobed, each lobe with lateral tooth, ca. 11 mm, glabrous, claw narrowly obtriangular, equaling calyx, appendages 2, prominent, petaloid, linear, truncate, 2.5–4.5 mm;
stamens long-exserted;
stigmas 3, long-exserted.
equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) teeth;
carpophore 2.5–3.5 mm.
ovoid to oblong, equaling calyx, (8–)12–15 mm;
carpophore 0.5–1 mm.
brown, broadly winged, reniform, 1–2 mm, rugose-tessellate.
dark brown, reniform, 1.8–2 mm diam., strongly papillate.
= 48.
= 72.
Silene suksdorfii
Silene serpentinicola
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.)
Of conservation concern.
Silene serpentinicola is a recently described endemic of the serpentines of the Smith River basin of northwestern Del Norte County and probably occurs on the same rock system across the border in Oregon. It differs from S. hookeri in flower color, and from both S. hookeri and S. laciniata subsp. californica in its erect, more or less solitary flowering stems and large, clearly visible petaloid appendages in the flowers.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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