Weed Silene

Nile region and Sinai.

Mediterranean region, West Asia to Himalayas.

Similar to Silene conica but larger in all its parts, S. conoidea is a rare adventive weed with showy flowers and inflated fruiting calyces.

This species is used medicinally.

Plants annual; taproot slender. Stems erect, simple or with ascending branches, (20-)40-100 cm, coarsely puberulent, stipitate-glandular, viscid distally. Leaves: mid and proximal stem pairs connate, blade 1-several-veined, oblanceolate to narrowly lance-olate, (3-)5-12 cm × (3-)8-15 mm, apex acute, veins parallel; basal leaf blades oblanceolate and ± obtuse, sparsely to moderately puberulent on both surfaces, rarely subglabrous. Inflorescences several-many-flowered, open, bracteate; bracts resembling leaves but smaller. Pedicels ascending, straight, equaling or longer than calyx, densely stipitate-glandular, viscid. Flowers: calyx prominently 25-30-veined, lobed to 1/ 3 its length but splitting further in fruit, umbilicate, narrowly conic in flower, conic-ovoid and inflated in fruit, 20-30 × to 15 mm, margins dentate, puberulent and stipitate-glandular, lobes 5, lanceolate, narrow, acuminate, veins parallel; corolla deep pink, clawed, claw equaling or longer than calyx, limb slightly lobed or unlobed, broadly obovate, spatulate, 8-12 mm, appendages 2-4 mm, lobed or dentate; stamens equaling claw; stigmas 3, equaling claw. Capsules flask-shaped, 15-20 mm, opening by 6 recurved, lanceolate teeth; carpophore to 2 mm. Seeds brown, reniform, 1.2-1.8 mm broad, tuberculate. 2n = 20, 24 (Europe, Asia).

Herbs annual, 25--60 cm tall, shortly glandular hairy. Principal roots slightly lignified. Stems solitary, erect, simple. Basal leaves oblong to linear-lanceolate, cauline leaves linear or lanceolate, 5--8 cm × 5--10 mm, pubescent, margin ciliate. Dichasial cymes few to many flowered; flowers erect, ca. 2 cm in diam. Calyx green, conical, 2--3 cm × 3--4.5 mm, umbilicate at base, inflated in fruit, to 3.5 cm, lower part broadly ovoid, 6.5--10 mm in diam., upper part attenuate; longitudinal veins 30, shortly glandular hairy; calyx teeth narrowly lanceolate, ca. 1/3 as long as to longer than calyx, margin narrowly membranous below, ciliate. Androgynophore to 1 mm, subglabrous. Petals 2.5--3.5 cm; claws included in calyx, narrowly lanceolate, 2--2.5 cm, glabrous, auricles triangular; limbs pink, obovate, ca. 8 mm, margin entire or slightly emarginate, sometimes slightly erose; coronal scales white, narrowly lanceolate, 2--2.5 mm. Stamens and styles included or slightly exserted; filaments sparsely shortly hairy. Styles 3. Capsule pyriform, ca. 15 × 6--8 mm. Seeds dark brown, reniform, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Jun--Jul. 2n = 20.

S. Europe, N. Africa, temperate Asia, Himalaya, N. India.

introduced; Alta., B.C., Sask.; Calif., Idaho, Mo., Mont., Oreg., Tex., Wash.; Eurasia.

1500-2500 m

Flowering early summer.

Dry waste places, roadsides, arable land; 0-1000m.

Xinjiang, Xizang [Africa, Asia, Europe].

Silene conoidea is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names weed silene and large sand catchfly. It is native to Eurasia, and it is known in other parts of the world, such as western North America, as a weed. It is an annual growing up to a meter in height with a hairy, partially glandular stem. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 12 centimeters long near the base of the plant and smaller farther up. The flower is enclosed in an inflated, hairy, glandular calyx of fused sepals which is ridged with many veins. It is open at the top, revealing five bright pink petals.