Family |
Caryophyllaceae
Silene italica
(L.) Pers.
Silene italica (L.) Pers.
First published in Syn. Pl. 1: 498 (1805).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, pp. 487, 501, Pl. CLXXII, 2; 1966)
• Life-form & habit: Perennial, 30–80 cm tall, hairy or woolly at the base and sticky above. Short sterile shoots arise at the crown; flowering stems often lean against shrubs or rocks.
• Leaves: Lower leaves are oblong-spatulate and densely hairy; floral leaves are linear.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Short, loose panicles. The glandular-hairy calyx is about 2 cm long, cylindrical-conical in flower and club-shaped in fruit, with blunt oblong-lanceolate teeth. White petals divide halfway or farther into oblong-spatulate lobes; the crown is absent or reduced to two small callosities.
• Fruit: Oval capsule, as long as or slightly shorter than its supporting stalk. Seeds are rough and tuberculate.
• Phenology: Flowering April–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Shaded rocks and degraded woodland.
• Lebanese distribution: Bzoummar, Bikfaya, Ghosta, Sir ed Denniye, Rayfoun, Beit Khachbo, Rachine, Jabal Terbol, above Aramoun, Mohrab, Mayrouba, Maaser, Jisr el Qadi–Deir el Qamar, Anna Bakich, Dimane, Hasroun, Ehden, Ain Ata near Rachaya and Kfertay.
• Syrian distribution: Bhamra, Massiaf, Qadmous, Kessab, Froulok, Ain Haramiye and Massadi.
• Native range: Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., France, Greece, Iran, Italy, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Romania, Sicilia, Spain, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine.
• Introduced into: Corse, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain.
Kew lists Tunisia separately as doubtfully present.