forked campion

(Silene dichotoma)

Conservation Status

 

No image available

 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNA - No Status Rank

SNA - No Status Rank

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Forked campion is a 12 to 36 tall, erect, annual forb that rises from a robust, slender taproot. When young the plant forms a basal rosette of leaves. Later it sends up flowering stems.

The stems are erect and branched near the top. The stems are usually reddish and rough with firm, stiff hairs. There are up to 10 pairs of leaves on the stem.

Basal leaves are broad, lance-shaped to spatula-shaped, 1 to 4 long (including the leaf stalk), and ¼ to 1 wide, hairy, and on leaf stalks. The leaf stalk is as long as the leaf blade. Stem leaves are smaller, narrower, and opposite. They are lance-shaped, to 2 long, to wide. They become progressively smaller as they ascend the stem. The lower leaves are on short leaf stalks, the upper leaves are attached to the stem without a stalk. They taper gradually to a pointed tip with straight sides along the tip. The base is wedge shaped, narrowly triangular and tapering to a point. The upper and lower surfaces are rough with firm, stiff hairs. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is open, long, many-branched clusters with many flowers.

The flowers are about wide when fully open. They are attached perpendicularly to the stem without a stalk.

The sepals are fused at the base into a narrow tube (calyx) terminating in 5 short lobes. The calyx is to long, about wide, and densely covered with firm, stiff hairs. It is not inflated. It has 10 major veins that are raised on the surface (prominent), forming ridges.

The petals are white, rarely pink, deeply two-lobed, horizontally spreading, with a stalk-like narrow base (claw). The flower has 10 stamens, which are longer than the petals, and 3 styles, which are twice as long as the calyx.

The fruit is an ellipsoid capsule with 6 spreading teeth at the top.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

12 to 36

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

White, rarely pink

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

The deeply-lobed petals and the flowers attached perpendicular to the stem without a leaf stalk are distinguishing features of this plant.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Cultivated land, roadsides, burnt clearings in forests, disturbed sites.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

June to October

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 28, 29, 30.

 
  4/21/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native to Asia and Europe. Introduced and naturalized in the United States.

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Subclass Caryophyllidae  
  Superorder Caryophyllanae  
 

Order

Caryophyllales (pinks, cactuses, and allies)  
 

Family

Caryophyllaceae (pink)  
  Subfamily Caryophylloideae  
  Tribe Sileneae  
 

Genus

Silene (catchflies)  
  Subgenus Behenantha  
  Section Dichotomae  
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

 

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

 

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

dichotoma silene

forked campion

forking campion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Calyx

The flower cup. May be the group of outer floral leaves (sepals) collectively, or a tube with lobes.

 

Claw

A stalk-like narrowed base of some petals and sepals.

 

Sepal

An outer floral leaf, usually green but sometimes colored, at the base of a flower.

 
 
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