Spanish Catchfly

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / pathogen
embedded sorus of Microbotryum major infects and damages live ovary of Silene otites

Foodplant / spot causer
amphigenous colony of Ramularia hyphomycetous anamorph of Ramularia didymarioides causes spots on live leaf of Silene otites

Herbs biennial, 20--40 cm tall, villous throughout. Roots robust. Stem solitary, erect, simple or sparsely branched. Basal leaves spatulate, 4--6 cm × 5--12 mm, base attenuate into long petiole, apex obtuse or mucronulate; cauline leaves linear-oblanceolate, small, narrow. Flowers unisexual (plants dioecious), in a racemiform thyrse with many-flowered cymules. Pedicel 4--10 mm, slender, glabrous. Calyx campanulate, 4--6 mm, glabrous. Androgynophore obsolete. Petal claws glabrous; limbs greenish, linear-oblanceolate, small, margin entire; coronal scales absent. Stamens and styles slightly exserted. Styles 3. Capsule ovoid or subglobose, 3.5--5(--6) mm, slightly longer than calyx. Seeds reniform, small. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Aug. 2n = 24.

N Xinjiang [Europe].

Cucubalus otites Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 415. 1753; Silene pseudo-otites Besser ex Reichenbach.

Silene otites, called Spanish catchfly, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Silene, native to Europe and the Transcaucasus area, and introduced to Xinjiang in China. It varies its floral odors to attract mosquitoes and moths at night and flies and bees by day. It is dioecious, with separate male and female plants.