Silene latifolia

Silene latifolia Poir.:
China (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Silene latifolia Rendle & Britten:
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Silene alba (Mill.) E.H.L. Krause:
Brazil (South America)
Greenland (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

introduced; Greenland; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia.

Liaoning (introduced), Xinjiang (native) [C and SW Asia, Europe].

Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Plants annual or short-lived perennial; taproot woody. Stems erect or decumbent at base, branched, to 100 cm, finely hirsute, glandular-puberulent distally. Leaves: blade hirsute on both surfaces; basal usually withering by flowering time, petiolate, blade oblong-lanceolate to elliptic; cauline sessile, reduced into inflorescence, blade lanceolate to elliptic, 3-12 cm × 6-30 mm, apex acute. Inflorescences several-many-flowered (fewer in pistillate plants), open, dichasial cymes, bracteate; bracts much reduced, lanceolate, herbaceous. Pedicels 1-5 cm. Flowers unisexual, some plants having only staminate flowers, others having only pistillate flowers, fragrant, 25-35 mm diam.; in veined staminate plants subsessile to short-pedicellate, in pistillate plants pedicellate; calyx prominently 10-veined in staminate flowers, 20-veined in pistillate, tubular, becoming ovate in pistillate flowers, 10-20(-24) × 8-15 mm in fruit, margins dentate, hirsute and shortly glandular-pubescent, lobes to 6 mm, broadly ovate with apex obtuse, to lanceolate with apex acuminate; petals white, broadly obovate, ca. 2 times calyx, limb spreading, unlobed to 2-lobed; stamens equaling to slightly longer than calyx; stigmas (4-)5, slightly longer than calyx. Capsules ovate, ca. equaling calyx, opening by (4-)5, spreading to slightly reflexed, 2-fid teeth; carpophore 1-2 mm. Seeds dark gray-brown, reniform-rotund, plump, ca. 1.5 mm, coarsely tuberculate. 2n = 24.

Herbs annual or biennial, rarely perennial, dioecious, 40--80 cm tall. Stems erect, branched, basally villous, apically glandular villous. Proximal cauline leaves elliptic, base attenuate into short petiole; distal leaves sessile, orbicular-lanceolate or lanceolate, 6--8 × 1--2.7 cm, densely pubescent, 3-veined, apex acuminate. Flowers unisexual, forming dichasial cymes. Pedicel usually less than 1 cm, glandular villous; bracts ovate-lanceolate, villous. Calyx pubescent, glandular hairy; calyx teeth triangular, margin glandular villous, apex acuminate; male flower calyx tubular-campanulate, 1.3--1.5 cm, longitudinally 10-veined; female flower calyx tubular-ovoid, inflated at middle in fruit, contracted at apex, 1.5--2 cm, longitudinally 20-veined. Androgynophore very short. Petals white, claws exserted beyond calyx, glabrous, cuneate, auricles inconspicuous; limbs obovate, deeply bifid; coronal scales small or inconspicuous. Stamens included. Female flower styles 5. Capsule ovoid, 1.5--1.7 cm, 10-toothed. Seeds gray-brown, reniform, 1--1.3 mm. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug. 2n = 24.

Lychnis alba Miller; L. ×loveae B. Boivin; L. vespertina Sibthorp; Melandrium album (Miller) Garcke; M. dioicum (Linnaeus) Cosson & Germain subsp. alba (Miller) D. Löve; Silene alba (Miller) E. H. L. Krause 1901, not Muhlenberg ex Rohrbach 1868; S. latifolia Poiret subsp. alba (Miller) Greuter & Burdet; S. pratensis (Rafinesque) Grenier & Godron

Arable land, roadsides, waste land; 0-2800m.

Grasslands, scrub grasslands; 1100--1500 m.

The Sarmatic mixed forests ecoregion stretches from northwestern Europe to the Ural Mountains in Russia and represents one of the broadest longitudinal expanse of any ecoregion of the Earth. Dominant canopy species include Scots pine and Norway spruce (Picea abies) intermixed with some broadleaf species such as (Quercus robur). There are a number of shrubs, wildflowers, grasses and mosses that inhabit the mid-tier and forest floor. Common low-growing shrubs include Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and Heather (Calluna vulgaris).

Example wildflowers or forbs seen in the forest understory in association with White Campion (Silene latifolia) are: Red Campion (Silene dioica), Sand Catchfly (Silene conica), Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) and Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris). In some fens within forest clearings the Marsh thistle (Cirsium palustre) is found.

Other associates in the Sarmatic forests include some widespread ferns seen on forest floors such as Western Brackenfern (Pteridium aquilinum) and Mountain Bladderfern (Cystopteris montana). Common mosses found in the more mesic soils are Broom Forkmoss (Dicranum scoparium), Stairstep Moss (Hylocomium splendens), Red-stemmed Feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi), Ostrich Plume (Ptilium crista-castrensis) and Common Hair Moss (Polytrichum commune).

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / spot causer
densely gregarious, subepidermal, erumpent pycnidium of Ascochyta coelomycetous anamorph of Ascochyta cookei causes spots on live leaf of Silene latifolia

Plant / associate
nymph of Dicyphus globulifer is associated with live Silene latifolia
Remarks: season: 6-early 8

Foodplant / parasite
Erysiphe buhrii parasitises Silene latifolia

Foodplant / pathogen
embedded sorus of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae infects and damages live anther of Silene latifolia

Plant / resting place / within
puparium of Ophiomyia melandricaulis may be found in stem mine of Silene latifolia
Remarks: Other: uncertain

Foodplant / parasite
hypophyllous telium of Puccinia arenariae parasitises live leaf of Silene latifolia
Other: minor host/prey

Foodplant / parasite
uredium of Puccinia behenis parasitises live Silene latifolia

Foodplant / spot causer
mainly hypophyllous colony of Ramularia hyphomycetous anamorph of Ramularia lychnicola causes spots on live leaf of Silene latifolia
Other: major host/prey

Flowering summer-fall.

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 154
Specimens with Barcodes: 164
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

Reasons: Native of Europe, north Africa and Asia (Hortus Third).