Silene acaulis
Silene polypetala
moss campion, silène acaule
eastern fringe catchfly, fringe campion
decumbent to ascending, scarcely branched, weak, leafy, with several basal, procumbent, nonflowering shoots, 10–40 cm, softly pilose.
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.
2 per node, blade 2–9 cm × 10–25 mm;
proximal petiolate, petiole ciliate, blade broadly oblanceolate;
distal sessile, blade obovate to elliptic or lanceolate, spatulate, margins ciliate, apex acute or obtuse, apiculate, glabrous to sparsely pilose.
solitary flowers.
terminal, cymose, usually 3-flowered, open, bracteate;
bracts foliaceous.
2–40 mm.
shorter than calyx, pilose, with colorless, large, stipitate glands.
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, funnelform, umbilicate in fruit, constricted around carpophore, 20–28 × 5–9 mm, broadening distally, papery, thinly pilose, veins parallel, green, with pale commissures, lobes lanceolate, 4–7 mm, apex acute;
corolla showy, pink or white, large, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb fan-shaped, 15–25 mm, laciniate into many narrow segments, appendages absent;
stamens equaling calyx;
stigmas 3(–4), equaling calyx.
3-locular, cylindric, equaling or to 2 times calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth;
carpophore ca. 1 mm.
ovoid, included in calyx, opening by 6 (or 8) teeth;
carpophore 7–10 mm.
light brown, reniform, 0.8–1(–1.2) mm broad, dull, shallowly rugose.
dark reddish brown, broadly reniform, ca. 1 mm, rugose on sides, margins papillate.
= 24.
= 48.
Silene acaulis
Silene polypetala
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.)
Of conservation concern.
There is an old collection (Mohr 4000, MO) labelled “Alabama” without date. I have no other records of the occurrence of Silene polypetala in that state.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
OR
WA
CalFlora
Flora NW
Go Botany
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
