SILENE FRUTICOSA

Family and Genus:- See- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. SIPHONOMORPHA

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Silene carnea.

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

catchfly.

Fruticosa (L) Of shrub-like habit.

General description:- Much-branched, robust perennial, almost completely

glabrous.

Stems:-

1) 10-30 cm, rather stout, flowering stems acsending to erect subglabrous below ±

glandular-pubescent above.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, spathulate, acute or apiculate, retrorsely ciliolate, shining above.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, terminal, few flowered rather dense, erect, on short peduncles.

2) Calyx, 20-25 mm, 10-veined, with short, patent glandular hairs; teeth acute.

3) Petal-limb, 8-15 mm, shortly bilobed white to yellowish rarely pink above.

4) Anthophore, 8-10 mm.

5) Coronal scales, obvious, acute, sometimes laciniate.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, c. 15 mm, narrowly ovoid, beaked, equalling the calyx.

2) Seeds, 1·5-2 mm, acutely tuberculate, blackish.

Key features:-

1) Flowers,, large, hermaphrodite.

2) Petals, usually distinctly bifid.

3) Inflorescence, a ± spreading, racemose panicle with opposite branches, at least

1 branch with a 3- or more-flowered dichasium.

4) Capsule, less than 1½ times as long as the carpophore.

5) Plant, glabrous.

6) Calyx, more than 20 mm.

7) Petals, red.

8) Inflorescence, short.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Crevices of coastal limestone cliffs, rarely in gravelly or ruderal habitats.

0-300 (-600) m.

Distribution:- S Peloponnisos, - Scattered in the C & E Mediterranean region:

Sicilly, Malta, Libya, Egypt, S Greece and Cyprus absent from Anatolia. Rare on

Crete, currently known only from the islands of Paximadia and Gavdos SW of

Crete.

Flowering time:- Apr-June.

Photo by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Common