SILENE SEDOIDES subsp. SEDOIDES

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. ATOCION

Common Names:- Hairy catchfly

Synonyms:- Silene delicatula, Silene ramosa.

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

catchfly.

Sedoides (L) Resembling sedum.

General description:- Low to short tufted, densely hairy annual with slender

stems, sticky above.

Stems:-

1) 5-20(-30) cm, usually much-branched, erect, slender, densely pubescent with

patent hairs.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite, simple, elliptic, entire, 10 mm long at most, very hairy, green or

reddish, often succulent.

Flowers:-

1) In lax monochasia or irregular dichasia.

2) Petals, small, often slightly notched.

3) Petal-limb, 2-3 mm, emarginate, usually bright pink with a darker spot at base.

4) Pedicels, 1-3 cm, often bent upwards just below the calyx, in fruit.

6) Bracts, leaf-like, green.

7) Calyx, 6-8(-9) x 2-3(-3·5) mm, oblong-clavate in fruit, shortly and stiffly

pubescent, greenish, rarely reddish;

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 5-6 mm; carpophore 1·5-2 mm.

2) Seeds 0·3-0·5 mm, reniform; faces slightly concave, striate; back wide, obtusely

grooved.

Key features:-

1) Seeds reniform. 0·3-0·5 mm.

2) Pedicels patent in fruit, slender, usually longer than the calyx.

3) Calyx 6-9 mm.

Habitat:- Rocky coastal habitats, rarely along roads and tracks and in dry open

shrubby vegetation some distance inland up to 400 m.

Distribution:- Distributed around the central and eastern Mediterranean coasts,

extending to easternmost Spain, and is particularly common in the Aegean region.

Widespread and common around the coastal regions of Crete.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to mid-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton