''Silene gallica'' 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, Cactacea ...
known by several common names, including common catchfly, small-flowered catchfly,
and windmill pink. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it can be found throughout much of the
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
world as a common roadside
weed
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...
.
Description
''Silene gallica'' is an erect or semi-erect annual herb growing up to tall, its branching stem clad in long, curling hairs and shorter, glandular hairs. The opposite, entire, lance-shaped leaves have acute apexes, are up to long on the lower parts of the plant, and smaller on the upper parts. The flowers grow in a terminal
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
at the top of the stem, and some appear in the leaf axils. Each flower has a tubular calyx of fused
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 coine ...
s lined with ten green or purple-red veins. The calyx is coated in long, sometimes glandular, hairs and becomes inflated in fruit. There are five white, pink or bicolored, spatulate petals, each with a small appendage at the base. There are ten stamens and three styles. The fruit is a brown, ovoid capsule with six apical teeth.
Distribution and habitat
Native to Europe, this species has a submediterranean / subatlantic distribution. In the British Isles it mostly occurs near the coast of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, but also sporadically inland. It is found in sandy or gravelly, often acidic, soils in arable fields, on wasteland and on walls, as well as poor dry pastures on the coast, and on sand dunes in the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
.
Status
This plant has been in long-term decline, especially in the more northern parts of Europe, and is no longer present in many inland sites in Britain and Ireland, with a population reduction of 80% in the last ten years reported in 2006. This may be due to changes in agriculture practices, or it may perhaps be affected by climate change. It is listed as a UK Priority Species, and the Great Britain Red Data List ranks it as endangered.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileFlora of North America
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Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1450768
gallica
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Flora of Malta