SILENE HOLZMANNII

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

Common Names:- None

Homotypic 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.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

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