Silene suksdorfii |
Silene subciliata |
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Cascade alpine campion, Cascade alpine catchfly, Cascade catchfly, Suksdorf's catchfly, Suksdorf's silene |
Louisiana catchfly, prairie-fire pink, scarlet catchfly |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, with decumbent subterranean shoots; taproot stout; caudex branched, woody. | Plants perennial; taproot thick; caudex branched. |
Stems | numerous, erect, simple, 3–15 cm, pubescent, viscid-glandular distally. |
erect, scarcely branched, 20–100 cm, glabrous. |
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. |
blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 3–16 cm × 3–12 mm, ± fleshy, base tapering into short petiole, apex acute, glabrous except for few cilia at base. |
Inflorescences | flowers terminal, solitary, or in single dichotomy, bracteate; bracts leaflike, 3–15 mm. |
cymose, terminal and axillary, elongate, 1–3-flowered, open, bracteate, bracteolate, pedunculate; peduncle slender, 2–10 cm; bracts and bracteoles much-reduced, linear-lanceolate, often ciliate. |
Pedicels | erect, ca. equaling calyx, viscid glandular-pubescent, hairs with purple septa. |
slender, 2–10 cm. |
Flowers | 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 tubular, 17–22 × 4–5 mm in flower, broadening to 7 mm in fruit but contracted around carpophore, glabrous, lobes lanceolate, 3–4 mm, margins membranous and ciliate near broad, obtuse apex; corolla scarlet, 2–21/2 times longer than calyx, limb lanceolate, narrowed into claw, 4–5 mm wide, margins entire or shallowly dentate, appendages linear, 4–5 mm; stamens exserted; styles 3, exserted. |
Capsules | equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) teeth; carpophore 2.5–3.5 mm. |
clavate, equaling calyx, opening by 6 teeth; carpophore 3–4 mm. |
Seeds | brown, broadly winged, reniform, 1–2 mm, rugose-tessellate. |
brown, broadly reniform, 2–2.3 mm, rugose. |
2n | = 48. |
= 48. |
Silene suksdorfii |
Silene subciliata |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Alpine ridges, gravel slopes, talus | Sandy soil, open woodlands, river banks |
Elevation | 1600-3000 m (5200-9800 ft) | 10-200 m (0-700 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA
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LA; TX
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Discussion | 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.) |
Silene subciliata, a very rare species, is closely related to S. laciniata and S. virginica but is readily distinguished by its subglabrous stems and leaves and by having unlobed petals. Silene subciliata is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 209. | FNA vol. 5, p. 208. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | B. L. Robinson: Bot. Gaz. 16: 44, plate 6, figs. 9–11. (1891) | B. L. Robinson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 29: 327. (1894) |
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