Family |
Caryophyllaceae
Silene reinwardtii
Roth
Silene reinwardtii Roth
First published in Catal. Bot. 3: 42 (1806).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 497, under Silene juncea; Pl. CLXX, fig. 4)
Description
Life-form & habit: Annual, tall and slender, reaching about 1 m. The examined Lebanese plant was 88 cm tall. Stems ascending to erect, much branched above into a very lax panicle. Plant completely glabrous and strongly viscid, the stickiness particularly evident when dry.
Leaves: Lower leaves relatively broad, obovate to ovate-spathulate and petiolate, withering early; cauline leaves progressively narrower, the upper leaves linear to almost setaceous.
Inflorescence & flowers: Inflorescence very lax, with long slender branches. Pedicels shorter than the calyx. Calyx glabrous, membranous, narrowly tubular to clavate, with 10 conspicuous reddish-purple longitudinal veins; veins anastomosing toward the upper part. Calyx teeth short, triangular to shortly lanceolate and acute. Petals white to pale pink, deeply bifid, commonly conspicuously marked with purple veins, especially on the lower surface. Corona present.
Fruit: Capsule ovoid, borne on a well-developed carpophore and approximately equalling it in length.
Seeds: Seeds brown, reniform, about 1–1.5 mm long, with a strongly sculptured surface. The testa bears regularly arranged rows of prominent, short, pointed to blunt-conical tubercles. The seed morphology of the examined Lebanese material closely matches that illustrated for Silene reinwardtii from coastal Syria.
Flowering and habitat
Flowering, habitat and elevation: Mouterde reports flowering throughout the year on sandy soils. No numerical elevation range is specified in his account.
Distribution
Historical Lebanese localities: Typical form: Saïda, Borj Brajné, Beirut, Nahr-el-Kelb, Antoura and Dlepta. Var. pallida: Chahtoul, Qannoubine, east of Ehmej, Ouadi-el-Arayech and Zahlé. Form unspecified: Abey, Douma, Boqayta, Feitroun, Mayrouba and Hadeth. These records were published by Mouterde under his historical S. juncea concept and have not all been independently redetermined from herbarium material.
Historical Syrian locality: Bhamra, under Mouterde’s S. juncea treatment.
Recorded location: Bqaatouta.
Native range: For POWO’s accepted S. reinwardtii: central and southeastern Greece to northern Israel; native geographical units include Greece, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine and Türkiye.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
Mouterde treated this Levantine plant as Silene juncea Sibth. & Sm., also citing S. picta DC., non Pers. His description—tall habit, very lax branching, narrow upper leaves, glabrous reddish-purple-veined calyx, pale petals with purple markings, ovoid capsule and tuberculate seeds—corresponds closely with the Lebanese material examined here.
The present material is identified as Silene reinwardtii Roth. This determination is supported not only by habit and floral morphology but also by the complete glabrosity and strong viscidity of the plant, the morphology of the calyx and fruit, and particularly the mature reniform seeds with regularly arranged prominent tubercles. These characters agree closely with the Syrian material described and illustrated as S. reinwardtii by Layka & Makhlouf (2011).
The historical name should therefore be cited as Silene juncea sensu Mouterde, rather than treating S. juncea Sm. as a formal synonym of S. reinwardtii. The distinction is important because the name Silene juncea Sm., as currently interpreted, is placed by POWO in the synonymy of S. echinospermoides Hub.-Mor., whereas S. corinthiaca Boiss. & Heldr. is currently treated as a synonym of S. reinwardtii Roth.
The Lebanese plant examined here differs from the original diagnosis of S. echinospermoides particularly in being completely glabrous; S. echinospermoides was described as puberulent, especially toward the base. Seed morphology also supports S. reinwardtii: the Lebanese seeds show the strongly sculptured, regularly tuberculate surface seen in Syrian S. reinwardtii material.
Interpretation: Silene reinwardtii Roth = Silene juncea sensu Mouterde, non S. juncea Sm. sensu stricto.
This reassignment refers to Mouterde’s taxonomic concept and to the examined Lebanese material. Historical herbarium specimens cited by Mouterde should ideally be re-examined individually before every old locality is regarded as independently confirmed under the modern name.
Sources:
POWO: S. reinwardtii; POWO: S. juncea Sm.; POWO: S. echinospermoides; Mouterde, Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1; Layka & Makhlouf (2011), study of Silene reinwardtii from coastal Syria.