Silene campanulata

Silene campanulata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Silene
Species: S. campanulata
Binomial name
Silene campanulata
S.Watson

Silene campanulata is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names Red Mountain catchfly and bell catchfly. It is native to the mountains of Oregon and northern California, where it grows in forest and chaparral habitat, sometimes on serpentine soils. It is a perennial herb growing up to 40 centimeters tall with many small shoots coming from a woody, branching caudex with a taproot. The erect stems are usually hairy and often have glandular, sticky patches on their upper parts. The leaves are up to 5 centimeters long by 3 wide, the lower ones lance-shaped to rounded, and the upper ones linear or oval. Nodding flowers occur in a terminal cyme at the top of the stem, as well as in some of the leaf axils. Each has a hairy, often glandular calyx of fused sepals. This bell-shaped green or purplish calyx is open at the top, revealing five white, greenish, or pale pink petals. The petals have multilobed or fringed tips. The stamens and three long styles protrude from the flower's center.

There are two to three subspecies which can look nearly alike. The subspecies Silene campanulata ssp. campanulata is designated as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act, which means that killing or possessing this subspecies is prohibited unless permitted by the California Department of Fish and Game (California Fish and Game Code Section 2080).

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