Family |
Caryophyllaceae
Silene dichotoma
Ehrh.
Silene dichotoma Ehrh.
First published in Beitr. Naturk. Verw. Wiss. 7: 143 (1792).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 491, under Silene racemosa and S. sibthorpiana; 1966)
Regional taxonomic treatment: Mouterde’s S. racemosa Otth and S. sibthorpiana Rchb. are treated by Kew within Silene dichotoma subsp. racemosa (Otth) Graebn. & P.Graebn. The following morphology and regional records describe those accounts within the species.
Description
Life-form & habit: Annual or biennial. Ascending stems spread from the crown and divide repeatedly into wide forks, 20–60 cm tall, clothed with curly hairs.
Leaves: Greyish-hairy, oblong to lanceolate and pointed; floral leaves membranous.
Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers on very short stalks. Calyx with prominent green veins bearing spreading bristles, shortly cylindrical at flowering and oval-oblong in fruit. Petal limbs white, rarely pink, divided almost to the base into two lobes. Petal crown consists of short, blunt strips in the racemosa form, reduced to tiny scales or swellings in Mouterde’s sibthorpiana form.
Fruit: Ovoid capsule on a very short internal stalk. Seeds rough and tuberculate, slightly channelled along the back.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: April–May in the S. racemosa account.
Habitat & elevation: Rocks and grassy places.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Under S. racemosa: near Halba, Menges, above Aramoun in Kesrouan, Boqayta, Rayfoun, near Hasroun and Ebel es Saki. Under S. sibthorpiana: Nahr Abou Ali, Ain Besabba, Bikfaya, Ain Akrine near Amyoun, Jabal Terbol, Qadicha valley, Sannine, Kamed el Loz, Ammiq, Zahle and Qalaat ech Chekif.
Syrian distribution: Under S. racemosa: Kafer Halab, Homs, Babeska and Soueida. Under S. sibthorpiana: Aleppo, Homs, Eriha, Sarmada, Khan Assal, Latakia, Tartous, Upper Jezire, Qoubour el Bid, Akkari–Tell Kalakh, Qalaat el Hosn and Hamme.
Recorded locations: Sannine, Kfertay, Bqaatouta and Tannourine.
Native range: Altay, Baltic States, Belarus, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Romania, South European Russia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine and West Siberia.
Introduced into: Alabama, Algeria, Belgium, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Japan, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North European Russia, Norway, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Poland, Québec, Sakhalin, Saskatchewan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tasmania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
Mouterde already questions the distinction between S. racemosa and S. sibthorpiana; Kew now places both within subsp. racemosa. No subspecies identification is inferred for the recorded observations. Kew lists Algeria both as introduced and as recorded in error; that distribution discrepancy remains unresolved.