SILENE SUCCULENTA subsp. SUCCULENTA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. SPERGULIFOLIAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

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

catchfly.

Succulenta (L) Fleshy, soft, sappy, juicy.

General description:- Perennial, with a woodytock and trailing shoots buried in

sand.

Stems:-

1) Flowering, 15-40 cm, procumbent to ascending, simple or sparingly branched.

2) Whole plant, especially the inflorescence, glandular-pubescent, sticky, often

completely incrustated with sand.

Leaves:-

1) Lower and middle cauline, broadly spathulate, thick, somewhat succulent.

Flowers:-

1) In dense, asymmetrical dichasia, vespertine (i.e. opening inevening).

2) Calyx, 15-20 mm, narrowly clavate, with conspicuous greenish or reddish veins.

5) Coronal-scales conspicuously toothed.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule c. 10 mm, ellipsoid, included in the calyx.

2) Seeds 0.8-1.0 mm.

Key features:-

1) Leaves ovate to obovate or oblanceolate.

2) Whole plant viscid with dense glandular soft hairs.

Habitat:- Coastal sand dunes with dry open shrubby vegetation and open woodland

of Juniperus macrocarpa. 0-30 m.

Distribution:- Occurs on the south-eastern Mediterranean coasts from Tunisia to

Lebanon. Rare on Crete, known from only a few areas on the main island of Crete,

but can be found on the islands of Elafonisi, Gavdos and Gaidouronisi off the

southern coast.

Flowering time:- Mar to mid-June

Photos by:- Vivienne Walker and Sarah Sells

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to the Red Data

Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece (1995)

Rare (R) according to IUCN 1997

Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/198

Now threatened by increasing tourism on the three Cretan islands Elafonisi, Gavdos

and Gaidouronisi off the southern coast.