General Appearance
Silene italica (L.) Pers., it is a perennial herbaceous plant, 30 to 60 cm tall, with a taproot. The stem is erect, sticky to the touch, and branched particularly at the base featuring erect flowering branches covered in dense hairs measuring 0.3 to 0.6 mm in length. The stem is generally irregularly branched. The leaves are arranged primarily in a basal rosette; the basal leaves are linear-spatulate and acute, with a blade 5-13 mm wide and 30-65 mm long, borne on a 30-40 mm stalk, and they usually wither by the time flowering occurs. The stem leaves are smaller; the lower ones are linear, while the upper ones tend to be sub-triangular. The leaf margins are entire, and the texture is herbaceous, typical of perennial species. The inflorescence is a broad, pyramidal dichasium with glabrous yet sticky branches. The calyx is narrowly conical, 15-20 mm long (commonly around 18 mm) and 2-3 mm wide, with obtuse teeth approximately 1 mm in length. The calyx surface is covered with simple and sometimes glandular hairs, and the upper section is club-shaped. The corolla consists of five free, milky-white petals with reddish veining on the underside, measuring about 15 mm in length. The petals are glabrous, deeply bifid, and ciliate at the throat; they lack scales but feature two distinct swellings. There are 10 stamens and 3 styles. The fruit is an ovoid, denticidal capsule measuring 4-6 mm in width and 9-12 mm in length. The carpophore is approximately equal in length to the capsule, or slightly longer. The seeds measure about 0.9 x 1.2 mm; they are reticulate and tuberculate, with a channeled back. The plant is generally sticky-glandular and may exhibit slight pubescence.
Life Form
Phytochoria
Distribution in Libya
Cyrenaica: Reported from Cyrenaica Macchia, El-Abrag, Lamlouda by Maire and Keith
Notes
Wild. I have not yet found a recent record of this species in Libya.
This species is accepted: https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:157576-1
Link of images: https://www.florealpes.com/fiche_sileneitalie.php, https://www.actaplantarum.org/flora/flora_info.php?id=7275
For more information
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:157576-1, https://www.ipni.org/n/157576-1, https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000440393, https://www.gbif.org/species/8993502, https://africanplantdatabase.ch/en/nomen/134428/silene-italica-l-pers, https://www.piante-spontanee.it/specie/silene-italica, https://flora.org.il/en/plants/silita/, https://www.actaplantarum.org/flora/flora_info.php?id=7275, https://www.florealpes.com/fiche_sileneitalie.php, https://www.i-flora.com/en/the-smartphone-apps/iflora-deutschland/species/art/show/silene-italica-1.html, https://minouxia.fr/Minouxia-FLGR-CYCL/FlGr-Cycl-planches/tab-429.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silene_italica
First: Encyclopedia Flora of Libyan:
Jafri, S.M.H. & El-Gadi, A. (1978) Flora of Libya, Caryophyllaceae Vol. (59) Department of Botany, Al-Faateh Univ., Tripoli, Libya. Page. 85.
Second: Researches and PhD theses, master theses, Sorted by Newest:
====================
Leave a Reply