Family |
Caryophyllaceae
Silene makmeliana
Boiss.
Leb. Syr.
Silene makmeliana Boiss.
First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. 8: 89 (1849).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 504; Pl. CLXXV, fig. 3)
Description
Life-form & habit: Perennial, 40 cm to 1 m tall, glaucous, often with several stems and slightly sticky towards the summit. Stems slender, pale green and dichotomously branched.
Leaves: Not fleshy; thinner and narrower than those of S. chlorifolia and S. swertiifolia in Mouterde’s preceding accounts. Lower leaves oblong-lanceolate and acute; the others narrowly linear.
Flowers: Long-stalked. Calyx cylindrical to club-shaped, 2.5–3 cm long, with triangular teeth alternately blunt and acute. Petal limbs obcordate and two-lobed, white with a variable pink tinge. Corona reduced to minute swellings.
Fruit: Capsule oblong, equalling the carpophore in length.
Flowering and habitat
Flowering: May–June.
Habitat & elevation: Rocky places. Mouterde provides no numerical elevation range for this species.
Distribution
Lebanese localities: Sir-ed-Dennié, Neba’ Barouk, Ehden, Sannine, Kneissé, Berkacha, Beqa’ Kafra, Dimane, Hasroun, Bcharré to the Cedars, Jabal Barouk, south of Laqlouq, between Sannine and Kneissé, above the Cedars, the Bardaouni valley and Baalbeck.
Syrian localities: Jabal Gharbi, above Zebdani, Jabal Halimé, Houreiré, Jabal Ma’loula, between Salihiyé and Barzé, Chahba, Tell Ahmar, Tell Chihane and Tell Qouleib.
Recorded locations: Sannine, Tannourine.
Native range: Lebanon to Anti-Lebanon; POWO lists the geographical unit Lebanon-Syria.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
POWO accepts Silene makmeliana Boiss., the same name used by Mouterde. Mouterde calls it endemic, but explicitly records it in both Lebanon and Syria, including localities in the Damascus region and Jabal Druze. His statement therefore refers to regional endemism, not restriction to Lebanon alone. His detailed Syrian records are retained here alongside POWO’s more concise range statement.
Sources:
Mouterde, vol. 1, p. 504; Kew POWO.