sweet William catchfly

(Silene armeria)

Conservation Status

 

No image available

 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNA - No Status Rank

SNA - No Status Rank

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Sweet William catchfly is a 4 to 27 but usually 8 to 16 tall, erect, annual forb that rises from a slender taproot. When young the plant forms a basal rosette of leaves. Later it sends up flowering stems.

The stems are erect and unbranched below the inflorescence. They are hairless and are more or less covered with a whitish, waxy coating (glaucous). They sometimes have sticky areas below the upper nodes.

Basal leaves are broad, lance-shaped to spatula-shaped, ¾ to 2 long, and hairless. They wither before the plants flower. Stem leaves are opposite, lance-shaped to elliptic, to 2 long, and from less than ¼ to 1 wide. They taper gradually to a pointed tip with straight sides along the tip. They are attached to the stem without a leaf stalk and are more or less clasping. They are hairless and more or less glaucous. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is a dense, head-like or branched cluster of flowers. Each cluster is subtended by a pair of long or less lance-shaped bracts.

Flowers are about ½ wide when fully open, and are on a short, upright stalk.

The sepals are tinged purple and fused at the base into a tube (calyx) terminating in 5 short, erect lobes. The calyx tube is ½ to long, and about wide, and constricted at the base with a navel-like indentation. It is club-shaped, gradually widening toward the apex. It has 10 major veins that are raised on the surface (prominent), forming ridges.

The 5 petals are pink, unlobed, horizontally spreading, with a stalk-like narrow base (claw). There are 10 stamens that are slightly longer than the petals and 3, sometimes 4, styles, also longer than the petals.

The fruit is a 3-chambered capsule with 6 or 8 spreading teeth at the top.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

4 to 27 but usually 8 to 16

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

Pink or lavender

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

The long, narrow, purple-tinged calyx and dense clusters of pink flowers distinguishes this plant from other Silene species.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Disturbed sites, especially near human habitation. Partial shade.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

June to July

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 22, 28, 29, 30.

 
  6/27/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native to Europe and Turkey. Introduced, widely cultivated, and naturalized in North America.

 
         
 

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)  
       
 

This species was formerly classified as Silene armeria. An analysis of the tribe Sileneae (Oxelman et al., 2001) determined that three new genera, Viscaria, Ixoca, and Atocion, formed a well supported group separate from Silene and Lychnis. Silene armeria became Atocion armeria, the type species of the new genus.

The transfer has not been widely accepted. ITIS, GRIN, USDA PLANTS, NatureServe, Flora of North America, and World Flora Online continue to use the name Silene armeria. GBIF and Plants of the World Online use the name Atocion armeria. NCBI lists both names without indicating that one is a synonym of the other.

 
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

Several subordinate taxa (varieties and/or subspecies) have been described. However, these are thought to be environmentally induced modifications, and are not generally accepted.

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Atocion armeria

Atocion armerioides

Lychnis armoraria

Silene latifolia

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

sweet William catchfly

sweet-William catchfly

sweet William silene

thrift catchfly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Calyx

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

 

Clasping

Describing a leaf that wholly or partly surrounds the stem but does not fuse at the base.

 

Claw

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

 

Glaucous

Pale green or bluish gray due to a whitish, powdery or waxy film, as on a plum or a grape.

 
 
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  Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow Nectaring モンキチョウ♀@ムシトリナデシコ訪花
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About

Published on Aug 27, 2012

A white-form female of Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias erate poliographus, family Pieridae) visiting pink flowers of the Sweet William Catchfly (Silene armeria, family Caryophyllaceae) for nectar. Late-June 2012 in Japan.

vid response

日本語による詳細はブログをご覧ください。
http://sigma-nature-vlog.blogspot.jp/2012/08/blog-post_27.html
ムシトリナデシコに来る虫の話

   

 

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