Silene rotundifolia |
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round-leaf catchfly |
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Habit | Plants perennial; taproot stout, fleshy; caudex branched. |
Stems | several, straggling to erect, freely branched, 2–7 cm, pilose and glandular, sparsely so proximally. |
Leaves | basal leaves withered at time of flowering, distal sessile, proximal petiolate, largest on mid to distal stem; blade subrotund to broadly ovate-lanceolate, 3–10 cm × 20–70 mm, base cuneate into petiole, apex short-acuminate, sparsely short-pilose. |
Inflorescences | cymose, open, few-flowered, leafy, bracteate; bracts resembling distal leaves. |
Pedicels | 1–3(–4) cm, viscid, with long septate-glandular hairs. |
Flowers | calyx indistinctly veined, tubular, broadened distally, constricted towards base around carpophore, ± umbilicate, 20–25 × 5–8 mm, herbaceous, glandular-pilose, lobes triangular, 3–4 mm, margins narrow, membranous, ciliate; corolla scarlet, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb deeply 2-lobed, 10–15 mm, lobes lanceolate, sometimes with 2 smaller lateral teeth, ciliate, appendages saccate, 1–1.5 mm, with clear area abaxially; stamens shortly exserted; styles 3, shortly exserted. |
Capsules | narrowly ellipsoid, not distending calyx, included within it, opening by 6 teeth; carpophore 6–8 mm. |
Seeds | gray, broadly reniform, plump, ca. 1 mm, shallowly papillate. |
2n | = 48. |
Silene rotundifolia |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. |
Habitat | Woodlands, partially shaded cliffs and bluffs |
Elevation | 200-600 m (700-2000 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; GA; KY; OH; TN; WV
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Discussion | Silene rotundifolia is clearly related to S. laciniata but is a well-marked species of the deciduous forest region. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 201. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Melandrium rotundifolium |
Name authority | Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 288. (1818) |
Web links |