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
Synonym: Silene corinthiaca Boiss., according to POWO.
Habit and stems — Mouterde’s treatment: Annual, 50 cm to 1 m or more tall. Stems ascending or erect, viscid, glabrous except near the base, which is more or less minutely hairy and tuberculate. Branches erect, elongated and arranged in a panicle.
Leaves: Lower leaves relatively large, oval and long-petioled, withering early; intermediate leaves linear, and floral leaves bristle-like.
Flowers: Pedicels much shorter than the calyx. Calyx glabrous and membranous, with reddish-purple veins and broad-based, shortly lanceolate, acute teeth. Petal limbs broad, white or pale pink; their undersides purple-reticulate in Mouterde’s typical form, or uniformly coloured in his var. pallida. Coronal lobes truncate and toothed beyond the middle.
Fruit and seeds: Capsule ovoid, approximately equalling the carpophore in length. Seeds rough and tuberculate, according to Mouterde.
Flowering and habitat
Flowering, habitat and elevation: Mouterde reports flowering throughout the year on sandy soils. No numerical elevation range is specified in this 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 are cited under Mouterde’s historical S. juncea concept, not modern specimen redeterminations.
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 are Greece, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine and Türkiye.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
POWO currently treats Silene corinthiaca Boiss. as a heterotypic synonym of S. reinwardtii Roth. The Lebanese plant is provisionally identified as S. reinwardtii Roth. The historical annotation is S. juncea sensu Mouterde, non S. juncea Sm. sensu stricto; it denotes Mouterde’s usage, not a formal nomenclatural synonym. In contrast, S. juncea Sm., published in 1809 and marked as an illegitimate later homonym, is currently assigned to S. echinospermoides Hub.-Mor. It must not be listed unqualified as a formal synonym of S. reinwardtii.
Mouterde used the name S. juncea Sibth. et Smith for a tall Levantine plant (Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 497; Pl. CLXX, fig. 4), also citing S. picta D.C., non Pers. His usage is best referenced explicitly as S. juncea sensu Mouterde. An author’s historical application of a name and the modern interpretation of the name’s type are separate questions; a change in database synonymy does not by itself reidentify his specimens.
The photographed Lebanese plant is provisionally interpreted as S. reinwardtii. Its reported tall, laxly branched habit, narrow upper leaves, glabrous red-veined calyx and pale petals with purple markings agree with Mouterde’s description. These shared characters alone do not conclusively exclude S. echinospermoides. The historical description and localities above are therefore explicitly attributed to Mouterde.
POWO’s S. juncea record documents differing treatments in its cited sources: S. portensis subsp. rigidula in WCVP (2021), S. corinthiaca in Euro+Med, and S. echinospermoides in the Illustrated Flora of Türkiye (2024). This supports a history of changing taxonomic interpretation, but does not establish the exact date of a Kew database change.
POWO currently records S. echinospermoides from the East Aegean Islands and Türkiye, whereas its S. reinwardtii range includes Lebanon-Syria. Distribution supports the working interpretation but is not diagnostic proof. Re-examination of historical herbarium material and mature seeds against the relevant diagnoses would provide a firmer basis for separating the similar taxa. No blanket reassignment of all Mouterde records is implied.
Sources:
POWO: S. reinwardtii; POWO: S. juncea Sm.; POWO: S. echinospermoides; Mouterde.