SILENE NOCTURNA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. SCORPIOIDEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Silene brachypetala, Corone nocturna

Meaning:- Silene (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus for
catchfly.
                  Nocturna (L) At night.   
                
General description:- Herbaceous annual plant. often branched from the base.

Stems:-
1) 15-45 cm, erect, usually branched, shortly eglandular-pubescent below, 
    sometimes glandular above.

Leaves:-
1) Lower cauline, oblanceolate, obtuse, the upper narrower.

Flowers:-
1) 5-15 in raceme-like cymes with a terminal flower monochasial, very densely
    crowded above, remote below.
2) Inflorescence, usually compound, sometimes alar flowers.
3) Calyx, (6-)9-13 mm, fusiform at anthesis oblong-obovoid in fruit, eglandular-
    pubescent with ascending hairs; veins wide, green, anastomosing.
4) Petal-limb, usually pink, bifid, exserted.
.
Fruit:-
1) Capsule, 8-11 mm, oblong or ovoid-oblong; carpophore 1-1·5 mm, puberulent.
2) Seeds, reniform; faces excavate-auriculate; back wide, with a shallow, 
    tuberculate groove.

Key features:-
1) Stems more than 3-flowered.
2) Seeds excavate on the face.
3) Plant never villous.
4) Carpophore less than 2 mm.

Habitat:- Weed of fallow fields and olive groves, also on roadsides and stony hills
with dry open shrubby vegetation  and in coastal habitats. 0-700 m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, but lacking in the interior C & N mainland. -
Mediterranean region. Fairly widespread across Crete

Flowering time:- Apr-June.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis
SPECIES DESCRIPTION