SILENE BELLIDIFOLIA

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

Common Names:- Daisy-leaved catchfly

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Silene (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus for

catchfly.

Bellidifolia (L) Daisy-leaved.

General description:- Erect annual herbs.

Stems:-

1) 30-60 cm, erect, branched, pubescent-puberulent above; hispid and simple,

rarely branched, below.

Leaves:-

1) Sparsely hispid.

2) Lower cauline, broadly oblanceolate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, with one dichasial branching at the base, otherwise strictly

monochasial with short pedicels.

2) Calyx, 12-16 mm, ± villous, tubular at anthesis, strongly clavate in fruit. Veins

obscurely anastomosing or free.

3) Petal-limb, 5-8 mm, bifid halfway, pink.

4) Anthophore, 5-6 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 9-11 mm; carpophore 4-5 mm.

2) Seeds, c- 1 mm, dark reddish-brown to black, faces deeply concave, with

parallel longitudinal grooves, back wide, shallowly and broadly grooved.

obscurely tuberculate.

Key features:-

1) Calyx, veins, obscurely anastomosing or free.

2) Calyx, more than 13 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Coastal habitats, field margins, olive groves, dry open shrubby vegetation.

0-400(-1100) m.

Distribution:- W. and C. Mediterranean, east as far as W Turkey. On Crete west

and central.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to early June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis and Enda McMullen