SILENE SEDOIDES subsp. SEDOIDES
Family and Genus:- See- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. ATOCION
Common Names:- Hairy catchfly
Homotypic 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.
5) Coronal-scales, white.
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;
8) Calyx-teeth, ovate, obtuse or subacute.
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
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
