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Silene uniflora
Plant species in the carnation family From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Silene uniflora is a species of flowering plant in the carnation family known by the common name sea campion.
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Description
Silene uniflora is a perennial plant that forms a mat with stems growing outwards to between 10 and 40 cm. A plant will grow a large main root that can be a thick storage root like that of a carrot or turnip.[2] The stems can grow along the ground or grow upwards towards their ends.[3]
The leaves are hairless and glaucous, grey-green due to a covering of natural waxes.[4] They have a fleshy texture and a variety of shapes including lanceolate, oblanceolate, elliptic or spatulate.[2] The flowers white with five deeply notched petals, the five sepals fused and inflated to form a bladder.[4] Each flower has three pistils and three stamens that are almost enclosed by the flower.[5]
It is similar in appearance to the bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) but with flowers generally solitary.[6]
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Taxonomy
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In 1762 Carl Linnaeus named Silene amoena, a species that does not have the same description as Silene uniflora, but is regarded as a synonym of Silene uniflora subsp. uniflora.[7] The scientific description and naming of the species as a whole was by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth in 1794. It is classified in the genus Silene which is in the family Caryophyllaceae.[1]
Subspecies
The sea campion has three subspecies listed as accepted by Plants of the World Online (POWO):[1]
- S. uniflora subsp. petraea (C. Hartm.) Jonsell & H. C. Prent.
Endemic to Sweden[8] - S. uniflora subsp. thorei (Dufour) Jalas
Native to Southwest France (extinct in Spain)[9] - S. uniflora subsp. uniflora
Atlantic Europe, the Azores, Madeira[7]
However, other sources such as the World Flora Online (WFO) and World Plants (WP) list additional subspecies as accepted.[10][11]
- Silene uniflora subsp. cratericola (Franco) Franco (WP)
- Silene uniflora subsp. glareosa (Jord.) Chater & S.M.Walters (WFO)
- Silene uniflora subsp. prostrata (Gaudin) Chater & S.M.Walters (WFO)
There are 54 synonyms of sea campion or one of its three subspecies.[1][8][9][7]
Names
Silene uniflora is known by the common name sea campion.[6] The first use of this name dates to 1597.[12]
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Range and habitat
Silene uniflora Silene uniflora is a maritime species growing in many European countries, but almost entirely along the coasts bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea.[2] In northern Europe it is native to the coasts of Scandinavia including Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Russia as far east as the Kola Peninsula.[13][2] It is also listed as native to Poland by POWO. It is not found or native to the Baltic States or Russia on the Baltic Sea.[1] In western Europe it is native to the west coast of France, the northern coast of Spain, and a limited area in northern Portugal.[13] It grows all around the shores of Ireland and the United Kingdom and is also some mountainous areas near fresh water,[6] though only rarely.[4] Further out in the Atlantic Ocean it is native to the Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Iceland.[1]
It has been introduced to Germany, Argentina, and New Zealand.[11]
It is one of the long-lived perennial plant species that establish on coastal shingle that has been stable for between five and twenty years.[14] It also grows in the dunes and at the strandline on beaches.[15]
References
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