''Silene douglasii'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Caryophyllaceae Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactace ...

known by the common name Douglas's catchfly. It is native to western North America from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

, where it grows in several habitat types, including forests, woodlands, and coastal scrub.

Description

''Silene douglasii'' is a tufted perennial herb growing from a branching

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a Plant stem, stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, " ...

and

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

, its stems decumbent to erect and up to 70 centimeters long. The stem is coated in curly or feltlike gray-white hairs. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 6 centimeters long on the lower stem and are smaller farther up. Each flower is encapsulated in a cylindrical inflated calyx of

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s lined with ten green or purple-red veins. It is open at the tip, revealing five white, pink or purplish petals, each with two wide lobes at the tip.

Varieties

There are three varieties of this species. *''Silene douglasii'' var. ''douglasii'' *''Silene douglasii'' var. ''oraria'' — Seabluff catchfly, rare and

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

coastline. *''Silene douglasii'' var. ''rupinae'' USDA: ''Silene douglasii'' var. ''rupinae''
/ref>

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Silene douglasii''USDA Plants Profile for ''Silene douglasii'' (Douglas catchfly)CalFlora Database: ''Silene douglasii'' (Douglas Catchfly, Douglas' campion, Douglas's catchfly, seabluff catchfly)Flora of North AmericaWashington Burke MuseumUC Photos gallery: ''Silene douglasii''
douglasii Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of California Flora of British Columbia Flora of the Cascade Range Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Caryophyllaceae-stub