Silene pseudatocion

Plants annual; taproot slender. Stems straggling to erect, much-branched, elongate, 20–70 cm, sparsely retrorse-puberulent. Leaves 2 per node, sessile with spatulate, broad, ciliate base, blade oblanceolate, 1.3–5 cm × 4–15 mm, apex acuminate, glabrous or sparsely setose. Inflorescences cymose, open, compound, pedunculate; bracts leaflike, lanceolate, 3–15 mm, apex acuminate; peduncle ascending, elongate, viscid stipitate-glandular. Pedicels ascending, elongate, viscid stipitate-glandular. Flowers: calyx prominently 10-veined, clavate, with long, slender tube surrounding carpophore, 17–20 × 4–6 mm, veins parallel, green or purple with purple stipitate glands, with pale commissures, lobes lanceolate, 2–3 mm, margins ciliate, apex acute; corolla bright pink, clawed, claw slightly longer than calyx, limb obovate, unlobed, ca. 1 cm, appendages 2, oblong, 2 mm, entire; stamens included in tip of calyx tube; styles 3, exserted. Capsules ovoid, slightly longer than calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth; carpophore 9–10 mm, pubescent. Seeds dull and very dark brown, almost globose, inrolled like a clenched fist, 1–1.3 mm, sides with radiating wrinkles, finely tuberculate abaxially. 2n = 24 (Balearic Islands).

Phenology: Flowering spring.
Habitat: Neglected gardens, roadsides, waste places
Elevation: 0-500 m

Introduced; Calif., Europe (Balearic Islands), n Africa.

Discussion

Silene pseudatocion is occasionally grown in gardens and rarely occurs as a weed in California. It is similar to another garden escape, S. pendula, but it differs in having a calyx tube with a very long, slender base and unlobed petals.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa