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Silene acaulis

moss campion, silène acaule

common catchfly, silène de france, small-flower catchfly, windmill campion, windmill pink

Habit Plants perennial, mat- or cushion-forming, subglabrous; taproot stout; caudex much-branched, becoming woody. Plants annual; taproot slender.
Stems

erect, branched, rarely simple, 15–45 cm, with long, often crinkled hairs mixed with short pubescence, viscid-glandular distally.

Flowering stems

erect, leafy proximally, 3–6(–15) cm, old leaves persistent at base.

Leaves

mostly basal, densely crowded and imbricate, sessile;

blade 1(–3)-veined, linear-subulate to lanceolate, 0.4–1(–1.5) cm × 0.8–1.5(–2) mm, margins cartilaginous, often ciliolate especially proximally, apex acute, glabrous to scabrous.

2 per node, blade with coarse, ascending, scabrous pubescence on both surfaces;

basal few, withering, blade oblanceolate to spatulate-petiolate, 0.5–5 cm × 3–15 mm;

cauline blades oblanceolate to lanceolate, 1–7 cm × 1–15 mm, apex obtuse or shortly acuminate to acute.

Inflorescences

solitary flowers.

open, with racemose branches, internodes and bracts usually ca. equaling fruiting calyx, 1–5 mm, longer proximally.

Pedicels

2–40 mm.

Flowers

bisexual or unisexual, all plants having both staminate and pistillate flowers, others having only pistillate flowers, subsessile or borne singly on peduncle;

calyx 10-veined, lateral veins absent, tubular to campanulate, (5–)7–10 mm, herbaceous, margins often purple tinged, dentate, sometimes ciliate, ± scarious, glabrous, lobes lanceolate to ovate, 1–2 mm;

petals bright pink, rarely white, limb unlobed to shallowly 2-fid, 2.5–3.5 mm, base tapered into claw, auricles and appendages poorly developed;

stamens exserted in staminate flowers, not so or aborted in pistillate flowers;

styles 3.

5–8 mm diam.;

calyx prominently 10-veined, narrowly tubular-ovoid in flower, ovoid in fruit, constricted at mouth, 7–10 × 3–5 mm, membranous between veins, margins dentate, hispid, hairs ca. 2 mm, veins parallel, lobes lanceolate, 2–2.5 mm, apex greenish purple, acute;

petals white or pink, often with dark spot or dark pink throughout, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb elliptic to obovate, lobed or unlobed, to 6 mm, appendages 2, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm;

stamens equaling or shorter than calyx;

stigmas 3, included in calyx.

Capsules

3-locular, cylindric, equaling or to 2 times calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth;

carpophore ca. 1 mm.

equaling calyx, opening with 6 recurved, narrowly triangular teeth;

carpophore shorter than 1 mm, pubescent.

Seeds

light brown, reniform, 0.8–1(–1.2) mm broad, dull, shallowly rugose.

dark reddish brown, reniform, angular with concave, radially ridged faces, broad outer edge transversely ridged and verrucose, ca. 0.5 mm broad.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Silene acaulis

Silene gallica

Phenology Flowering early summer. Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Arctic and alpine tundra, gravelly, often wet places, rocky ledges Dry, open places, sandy and gravelly ground, roadsides, waste land
Elevation 0-4200 m (0-13800 ft) 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CO; ID; ME; MT; NH; NM; NV; NY; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Europe; Asia (Russian Far East)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; AL; AZ; CA; FL; ID; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NH; NY; OR; PA; RI; SC; TX; WA; BC; NB; NS; ON; PE; Europe [Introduced in North America; introduced worldwide]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Silene acaulis is a variable species, and most workers have recognized infraspecific taxa in North America: subsp. acaulis (subsp. exscapa and subsp. arctica), which is predominantly arctic; and subsp. subacaulescens, which extends down the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to Arizona and New Mexico. In subsp. acaulis, the leaves are flat and short and the flowers are subsessile and smaller in size. Subspecies subacaulescens is typically a larger, less-compact plant with longer, narrower leaves and larger, pedunculate flowers. However, in many populations, these two variants are poorly differentiated, and in others both occur together, connected by intermediates.

Silene acaulis is widely distributed in arctic and alpine Europe.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 173. FNA vol. 5, p. 185.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Silene
Sibling taxa
S. antirrhina, S. aperta, S. armeria, S. bernardina, S. bridgesii, S. campanulata, S. caroliniana, S. chalcedonica, S. conica, S. coniflora, S. conoidea, S. coronaria, S. csereii, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. drummondii, S. flos-cuculi, S. gallica, S. grayi, S. hitchguirei, S. hookeri, S. invisa, S. involucrata, S. kingii, S. laciniata, S. latifolia, S. lemmonii, S. marmorensis, S. menziesii, S. nachlingerae, S. nivea, S. noctiflora, S. nuda, S. occidentalis, S. oregana, S. ostenfeldii, S. ovata, S. parishii, S. parryi, S. pendula, S. petersonii, S. plankii, S. polypetala, S. pseudatocion, S. rectiramea, S. regia, S. repens, S. rotundifolia, S. sargentii, S. scaposa, S. scouleri, S. seelyi, S. serpentinicola, S. sibirica, S. sorensenis, S. spaldingii, S. stellata, S. subciliata, S. suecica, S. suksdorfii, S. thurberi, S. uralensis, S. verecunda, S. virginica, S. viscaria, S. vulgaris, S. williamsii, S. wrightii
S. acaulis, S. antirrhina, S. aperta, S. armeria, S. bernardina, S. bridgesii, S. campanulata, S. caroliniana, S. chalcedonica, S. conica, S. coniflora, S. conoidea, S. coronaria, S. csereii, S. dichotoma, S. dioica, S. douglasii, S. drummondii, S. flos-cuculi, S. grayi, S. hitchguirei, S. hookeri, S. invisa, S. involucrata, S. kingii, S. laciniata, S. latifolia, S. lemmonii, S. marmorensis, S. menziesii, S. nachlingerae, S. nivea, S. noctiflora, S. nuda, S. occidentalis, S. oregana, S. ostenfeldii, S. ovata, S. parishii, S. parryi, S. pendula, S. petersonii, S. plankii, S. polypetala, S. pseudatocion, S. rectiramea, S. regia, S. repens, S. rotundifolia, S. sargentii, S. scaposa, S. scouleri, S. seelyi, S. serpentinicola, S. sibirica, S. sorensenis, S. spaldingii, S. stellata, S. subciliata, S. suecica, S. suksdorfii, S. thurberi, S. uralensis, S. verecunda, S. virginica, S. viscaria, S. vulgaris, S. williamsii, S. wrightii
Synonyms Cucubalus acaulis, S. acaulis subsp. arctica, S. acaulis var. exscapa, S. acaulis subsp. subacaulescens, S. exscapa, Xamilensis acaulis S. anglica, S. quinquevulnera
Name authority (Linnaeus) Jacquin: Enum. Stirp. Vindob., 78, 242. (1762) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 417. (1753)
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