Silene acaulis
Silene invisa
moss campion, silène acaule
red fir catchfly, short-petal campion
several, erect, unbranched proximal to inflorescence, 10–40 cm, puberulent.
erect, leafy proximally, 3–6(–15) cm, old leaves persistent at base.
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.
mostly basal, petiolate, blade oblanceolate or spatulate, 1.5–5 cm × 2–6 mm, apex acute, glabrous except for a few cilia on petiole;
cauline leaves in 2–4 pairs, reduced distally, blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, 2–7 cm × 2–6 mm.
solitary flowers.
cymose, 1–3-flowered, open, bracteate;
cyme 1, terminal, often with 1 flower at next node;
bracts linear-lanceolate, 5–20 mm.
2–40 mm.
erect, from 0.5 cm, lengthening to 3 cm in fruit, gray and somewhat retrorse-puberulent with stipitate-glandular hairs.
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.
calyx prominently 10-veined, veins parallel, green, with pale commissures, broadened in lobes, narrowly campanulate and 7–11 × 3–4 mm in flower, campanulate and 8–12 × 4–5 mm in fruit, tending to broaden proximally, glandular-puberulent, lobes 5, erect, lanceolate, 1–2 mm, apex blunt;
petals cream to pink, often tinged with dusky purple, slightly longer than calyx, limb 1–2 mm, unlobed or apex notched;
stamens equaling calyx;
stigmas 3, equaling calyx.
3-locular, cylindric, equaling or to 2 times calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth;
carpophore ca. 1 mm.
narrowly ovoid, 10–13 mm, slightly longer than calyx, opening with 6 outwardly curved teeth;
carpophore shorter than 1 mm.
light brown, reniform, 0.8–1(–1.2) mm broad, dull, shallowly rugose.
brown, reniform, angular, 0.7–1 mm, margins with large, balloonlike papillae, sides rugose.
= 24.
= 48.
Silene acaulis
Silene invisa
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.)
Silene invisa is found in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. It is a rare species very similar to S. drummondii, from which it can usually be distinguished by its smaller size, glabrous leaves, and the large, inflated papillae of the seeds. Plants with intermediate characters occur in Nevada and Arizona.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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OR
WA
CalFlora
Flora NW
Go Botany
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
