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Silene dioica

(Catchfly)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Chinese:

Hong Jian Qiu Luo (As Lychnis Dioica)

Common Names in Danish:

Dag-Pragtstjerne

Common Names in English:

Catchfly, English Maiden, Morning Campion, Red Campion, Red Catchfly

Common Names in Finnish:

Puna-Ailakki

Common Names in French:

Compagnon-Rouge, Lychnis Dioïque, Lychnis Fleur De Coucou, Silène Dioïque

Common Names in German:

Rote Waldnelke

Common Names in Italian:

Silene Dioica

Common Names in Norwegian:

Rød Jonsokblom

Common Names in Swedish:

Rödblära, Skoglyst Rödblära, Skogslyse

Description

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Family Caryophyllaceae

Herbs annual or perennial , rarely subshrubs or shrubs . Stems and branches usually swollen at nodes. Leaves opposite, decussate, rarely alternate or verticillate , simple , entire, usually connate at base ; stipules scarious , bristly , or often absent. Inflorescence of cymes or cymose panicles, rarely flowers solitary or few in racemes , capitula, pseudoverticillasters, or umbels. Flowers actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual , occasionally cleistogamous . Sepals (4 or) 5, free , imbricate, or connate into a tube , leaflike or scarious, persistent , sometimes bracteate below calyx. Petals (4 or) 5, rarely absent, free, often comprising claw and limb; limb entire or split, usually with coronal scales at juncture of claw and limb. Stamens (2--) 5--10, in 1 or 2 series. Pistil 1; carpels 2--5, united into a compound ovary. Ovary superior, 1-loculed or basally imperfectly 2--5-loculed. Gynophore present or absent. Placentation free, central, rarely basal; ovules (1 or) few or numerous , campylotropous. Styles (1 or) 2--5, sometimes united at base. Fruit usually a capsule, with pericarp crustaceous , scarious, or papery , dehiscing by teeth or valves 1 or 2 Ã as many as styles, rarely berrylike with irregular dehiscence or an achene. Seeds 1 to numerous, reniform , ovoid , or rarely dorsiventrally compressed , abaxially grooved , blunt , or sharply pointed , rarely fimbriate-pectinate; testa granular , striate or tuberculate , rarely smooth or spongy ; embryo strongly curved and surrounding perisperm or straight but eccentric ; perisperm mealy.

Between 75 and 80 genera and ca. 2000 species: widespread but mainly of temperate or warm-temperate occurrence in the N hemisphere, with principal centers of distribution in the Mediterranean region and W Asia to W China and the Himalayas, fewer species in Africa S of the Sahara, America, and Oceania; 30 genera (two endemic) and 390 species (193 endemic) in China.

Arenaria, Silene, and Stellaria contain over half the species in the family in China. They are mostly concentrated in the Qinghai-Xizang plateau , and are especially rich from the Hengduan Mountains to the Himalayas. The main uses of this family are medicinal and ornamental . Dianthus superbus, Pseudostellaria heterophylla, Stellaria dichotoma var. lanceolata, and Vaccaria hispanica are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine . Some species of Arenaria, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Psammosilene, and Silene are used as medicinal herbs among the people or are habitually used in local Chinese medicine. Many species of Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Saponaria, and Silene are grown as ornamentals. Atocion armeria (Linnaeus) Rafinesque ( Silene armeria Linnaeus), native to Russia and Europe, is also cultivated in China. It differs from Silene in having a corymbose inflorescence and obscure calyx veins. Wu Cheng-yih, Ke Ping, Zhou Li-hua, Tang Chang-lin & Lu De-quan. 1996. Caryophyllaceae. In: Tang Chang-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 26: 47â449.[1]

Genus Silene

Herbs, annual , biennial, or perennial , often decumbent at base or sometimes cespitose. Taproots slender or often stout, deep, branched caudex often present, some species stoloniferous or rhizomatous . Stems simple or branched, terete or sometimes angular. Leaves opposite or occasionally whorled , connate proximally, petiolate (basal leaves ) or sessile (most cauline leaves) ; blade 1-5-veined, linear to obovate or spatulate , herbaceous, apex acute to obtuse . Inflorescences terminal or sometimes axillary , simple or branched, sometimes condensed cymes, frequently flowers few or solitary, frequently glandular-pubescent and viscid ; bracts paired , herbaceous or scarious , or absent; involucel bracteoles absent. Pedicels erect , rarely flowers sessile or subsessile . Flowers bisexual , sometimes unisexual (rarely so on separate plants ) ; sepals connate proximally into tube , (4-) 10-28(-40) mm; tube green, whitish, and/or purplish, 10-30-veined, cylindric to campanulate , urceolate , or clavate , terete, frequently inflated , membranous or more rarely herbaceous, commissures between sepals 1-veined, herbaceous; lobes green or purplish, 1-5-veined, broadly triangular to lance-oblong or linear, usually shorter than tube, margins whitish, scarious, apex acute to obtuse; petals 5, white, pink, scarlet, dusky purple, or off-white tinged with purple, clawed, claw usually conspicuous , sometimes small, rarely absent, auricles 2, coronal appendages 2, variously shaped or dissected ; limb usually exserted and conspicuous, oblanceolate to obovate, apex 2-lobed, sometimes dissected into 1-4 linear lobes or irregular teeth, or fimbriate, rarely entire; nectaries at filament bases; stamens 10, rarely fewer or absent, frequently dimorphic with longer opposite petals, arising with petals from carpophore; filaments distinct nearly to base; staminodes absent (rarely to 10 in pistillate flowers, arising with petals from carpophore, filiform ) ; ovary 1- or 3-5-locular; styles 3 or 5, occasionally 4 (absent in staminate flowers ), filiform, 1.5-20 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas 3 or 5, occasionally 4, linear along adaxial surface of styles, papillate (30×) . Capsules ovoid to globose , opening along sutures into 3-5 valves , frequently splitting into 6-10 equal teeth; carpophore usually present. Seeds ca. (5-) 15-100(-500+), reddish to gray or black, reniform to globose, usually tuberculate or papillate, papillae around margins sometimes larger and inflated, marginal wing sometimes present, appendage absent; embryo peripheral, curved . x = (10) 12.

Species ca. 700: mainly Northern Hemisphere.

Silene includes several important weeds and some very beautiful horticultural plants. In addition to the species described in this account, several others have occurred in the flora area as chance introductions or garden escapes , but they have not become established and most have not been seen recently. They include S. coeli-rosa (Linnaeus) Godron, S. cretica Linnaeus, S. (Lychnis) fulgens (Fischer) E. H. L. Krause, S. italica Persoon, and S. nutans Linnaeus.

In this account, Lychnis, Melandrium, and Viscaria have been included in Silene, their previous recognition as distinct genera having resulted in a great deal of confusion in both nomenclature and taxonomy. I have not presented an infrageneric classification of Silene because existing systems either do not include those other genera (e.g. , P. K . Chowdhuri 1957) or do not deal with most of our native North American taxa [e.g., W. Greuter (1995) and the molecular studies by Oxelman and coworkers (e.g., B . Oxelman et al. 1997, 2000]. The recent molecular study by J. G. Burleigh and T. P. Holtsford (2003) provides little support for existing morphologically based sectional classifications within Silene insofar as they relate to endemic North American taxa. However, it does indicate the distinctness of our arctic alpine species (S. involucrataas S. furcata, and S. acaulis) that are circumpolar in their distribution.[2]

Physical Description

Species Silene dioica

Plants perennial ; taproot slender. Stems ascending , decumbent at base , branched, shortly rhizomatous , to 80 cm, softly pubescent , ± glandular , at least distally, rarely subglabrous. Leaves sessile at mid and distal stem, petiolate to spatulate proximally; petiole equaling or longer than blade of basal leaves ; blade ovate to elliptic , 3-13 cm × 10-50 mm (not including petiole), apex acute to acuminate, sparingly pubescent, densely so on abaxial midrib . Inflorescences dichasial cymes, several- to many-flowered, open, bracteate ; bracts lanceolate, 4-20 × 2-7 mm, herbaceous, softly hairy throughout with long-septate hairs , not glandular, or with some glandular hairs. Pedicels ascending, 0.2-3 cm, usually shorter than calyx. Flowers unisexual , some plants having only staminate flowers , others having only pistillate flowers, 20-25 mm diam.; calyx 8-12-veined, campanulate , narrowly so in staminate flowers, broadly in pistillate, 10-15 × to 7 mm in flower, 11 mm broad in fruit, herbaceous, margins dentate , softly pubescent, lobes 5, erect , lanceolate, 2-3 mm; petals bright pink, clawed, claw equaling or longer than calyx, limb spreading horizontally, broadly obovate , unlobed or 2-lobed, to 12 × 12 mm, appendages 4, ca. 1 mm; stamens and stigmas equaling petal claw; styles 5. Capsules broadly ovoid to globose , equaling and often splitting calyx, opening by 5 (splitting into 10) revolute teeth; carpophore absent. Seeds dark brown to black, broadly reniform , plump, 1-1.6 mm, densely and evenly papillate . 2n = 24. [source]

Silene dioica is closely related to S. latifolia and completely interfertile with it. The two species hybridize wherever they grow in close proximity, and the offspring (S. ´hampeana Meusel & K . Werner) usually have pale pink flowers. Silene dioica and S. latifolia are difficult to separate in herbarium material unless flower color has been noted. The characters that distinguish S. dioica are the usually dense, long, and soft pubescence covering at least the distal portion of the plant; the broad, almost globose, thin, and brittle capsule with revolute teeth; and the softer, thinner, usually broader leaves. Occasionally, double-flowered plants are encountered as garden escapes . [source]

Habit: Evergreen .

Flowers: White flowers in spring . • Bloom Period: May, June, July. • Flower Color: pink

Foliage: Narrow, strap-like lanceolate leaves. Stems and the bases of flowers are covered with sticky hairs . Leaves of basal rosette spatulate , petiolate , to +/-15cm long (with petiole ), 2cm broad, acute, entire. Blades mostly glabrous . Margins ciliate , especially on petiole. Cauline leaves opposite, becoming sessile, lanceolate to lance-linear , entire, viscid glandular pubescent , acute, reduced upward, typically less than 8 pairs on a stem.

Size/Age/Growth

Size: to 1' tall.

Landscaping

Landscape Uses: Containers . Borders . • Care: Tolerates coastal conditions.

Habitat

Woodlands, hedges , gardens, riverbanks, open waste places; 0-500 m ; introduced [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,500 meters (0 to 8,202 feet).[4]

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 15-18" apart.

Soil: Moderately fertile , well-drained soil. • Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 7.8

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun.

Moisture: Water Requirements: Drought tolerant .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Last Revised: 2012-04-18