SILENE HOLZMANNII

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. BEHENANTHA

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Silene (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus for

catchfly.

Holzmannii (L) Probably for Theodor Heinrich Hermann von Holzmann

(1822-1902). German botanist from Dresden who lived most of his life in Greece.

General description:- Herbaceous plant. with erect, hairless, simple or branched

stems.

Stems:-

1) 15-20 cm, glabrous, usually single and strictly erect.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite, simple, lanceolate to oval, glabrous, slightly bluish green.

2) Cauline, glaucous, usually imbricate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence a lax dichasium, lowest pair of internodes of the fruiting

inflorescence 2-4 cm; next pair very short; flowers (except the lowest one)

overlapping the pedicels, stout, usually shorter than calyx.

2) Calyx, 11-17 mm, ovoid in fruit, with 5 whitish sepals with brown red veins.

3) Stamens, 10 including 5 a little shorter.

4) Styles, 3 whitish, with reddish, anastomosing veins above.

5) Petal-limb, scarcely exserted 3-64 mm, not broader than long, purplish-pink,

divided more than halfway into linear, parallel lobes.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 9-10 mm, ovoid; carpophore 1-2 mm, very stout.

2) Seeds, c. 1·5 mm, indehiscent, echinate.

Key features:-

1) Calyx glabrous.

2) Capsule, crowned by indurate style bases, dehiscent at maturity.

3) Petal-limb 3-4 mm, purplish-pink.

Habitat:- Rocky slopes and flats with coastal dry open shrubby vegetation. 0-30 m,

confined to small, ungrazed islets.

Distribution:- Endemic to a small area of the S. Aegean. A small island specialist

restricted to the sublittoral zone. On Crete currently know only from a small island

in the far east. Related to S behen.

Flowering time:- Apr-May.

Photos by:- Stavros Apostolou

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED

Anastomosing- Forming a network; vein branches uniting where they come into

contact

Calyx:- A collective name for the sepals - the outer whorl of organs in most flowers.

Capsule:- Dry fruit that opens when ripe. splitting from the apex to the base into

separate segments known as valves.

Carpophore:- The fruit bearing stalk A prolongation of the receptacle or floral axis

bearing the carpels or ovary.

Cauline:- Borne on the stem, of the stem.

Dichasium-(pl Dichasia):- Cyme with lateral branches on both sides of the main

axis

Echinate:- With small projections tapering from a broad base to a sharp apex;

densely covered with rigid hairs or small prickles.

Exserted:- Projecting beyond an enclosing organ or part.

Glabrous:- Without hairs, hairless.

Glaucous:- Covered with a waxy bloom, giving a bluish or greyish colouration.

Imbricate:- Overlapping like tiles.

Indehiscent:- Fruits that do not split open to release their seeds. not splitting open

to release their seeds.

Inflorescence:- The flowering branch or branches, flowers and bracts above the

uppermost leaves on a stem.

Internode:- The portion of a stem between two nodes.

Lanceolate:- Lance-shaped: more or less elliptical but broadest below the middle.

Linear:- Narrow and much longer than wide, with parallel margins.

Ovoid:- Egg-shaped.

Pedicel:- The stalk of an individual flower.

Petal-limb:- An enlarged upper part of the petals.

Sepal:- A member of the outer perianth whorl in most flowers. The sepals

collectively make up the calyx.

Stamen:- Pollen-producing reproductive organ, typically consisting of a stalk called

the filament and an anther.

Style:- The stalk that connects the stigma to the ovary.

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