SILENE VULGARIS subsp. MACROCARPA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. INFLATAE

Common Names:- Bladder campion

Synonyms:- Silene inflata, Silene latifolia.

Meaning:- Silene (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus for
catchfly.
                  Vulgaris (L) Vulgar, common.
                  Macrocarpa (Gr) Large-fruited.       
                
General description:- Plant with long stolons. Very variable short to medium,
glabrous; sometimes caespitose, and woody at the base; perennial.

Stems:-
1) Up to 50 cm, erect, usually branched, glabrous pubescent, often glaucous.

Leaves:-
1) 4-7 x 0·7-1·6 cm. Opposite, simple, narrowly lanceolate, a little fleshy, glabrous.
2) Lower, petiolate, the higher ones amplexicaul.

Flowers:-
1) Flowers, usually several in a lax, terminal dichasium, nodding at anthesis.
2) Corolla, with 5 free, petals.
3) Petal-limb, 3-8 mm, bifid almost to the base, white or rarely pinkish.
4) Coronal-scales poorly-developed.
5) Calyx, 13-20 mm, glabrous and glaucous, ellipsoid to broadly campanulate,
    inflated, c. 20-veined in lower part, veins freely anastomosing.
6) Styles. 3.
7) Bracts, usually scarious.

Fruit:-
1) Capsule, 7-13 mm, subglobose to pyriform.
2) Carpophore, 2-4 mm
3) Seeds, 1.4-2.2 mm, blackish, tuberculate..

Key features:-
1) Calyx glabrous and glaucous.
2) Petals bifid; usually pink or greenish.
3) Plant usually tall, ± erect, with long stolons.
4) Inflorescence many flowered.
5) Bracts usually scarious.
6) Capsule usually more than 10 mm.

Habitat:- In a wide variety of natural and anthropogenic habitats on various
substrates. 0-900 m.

Distribution:- Widespread throughout the Mediterranean. Widespread and common
on Crete.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to Sept.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton
SPECIES DESCRIPTION