Silene suksdorfii
Silene wrightii
Cascade alpine campion, Cascade alpine catchfly, Cascade catchfly, Suksdorf's catchfly, Suksdorf's silene
Wright's catchfly
numerous, erect, simple, 3–15 cm, pubescent, viscid-glandular distally.
several, simple or branched, spreading to ascending, leafy, 10–30 cm, densely pubescent, glandular.
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, mostly cauline, blade 1.5–6 cm × 3–14 mm, apex sharply acuminate, pubescent and viscid on both surfaces;
distal sessile, blade elliptic-lanceolate;
proximal short-petiolate, blade oblanceolate.
flowers terminal, solitary, or in single dichotomy, bracteate;
bracts leaflike, 3–15 mm.
leafy, flowers terminal and axillary.
erect, ca. equaling calyx, viscid glandular-pubescent, hairs with purple septa.
straight, rather slender, 1/5 times to equaling 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.
calyx prominently 10-veined, tubular to narrowly obconic in flower, 16–20 × 4–5 mm, clavate and broadening to 7 mm in fruit, narrowed proximally around carpophore, coarsely glandular-pubescent and viscid, veins parallel, green, with pale commissures, lobes narrowly lanceolate, 5–7 mm, margins narrow, membranous, apex acuminate;
corolla white to pale yellow, sometimes purple tinged, clawed, ca. 2 times calyx, claw longer than calyx, broadened into obtriangular limb, limb 5–8 mm, cleft ca. to middle into (2–)4–8 lanceolate to oblong lobes, appendages 2, very short;
stamens exserted, shorter than petals;
styles 3, exserted, slender, shorter than petals.
equaling calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) teeth;
carpophore 2.5–3.5 mm.
narrowly ovoid, equaling calyx, opening by 3 teeth that tardily split into 6;
carpophore 3–6 mm.
brown, broadly winged, reniform, 1–2 mm, rugose-tessellate.
brown, broadly reniform, flattened, ca. 1.5 mm, sides rugose, margins papillate;
papillae conic, acute.
= 48.
= 96.
Silene suksdorfii
Silene wrightii
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 wrightii is an uncommon, distinct species with large, pale yellowish flowers and tubular to narrowly funnelform calyces with long, narrow, lanceolate lobes. The leaves are mainly cauline, with the largest in the mid-stem region. The stems are few-branched and arise in tufts from the very woody caudex.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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