Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Caryophyllales Juss. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Caryophyllaceae
Genus
Silene L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Silene flos-cuculi (L.) Clairv., Man. Herbor. Suisse 146 (1811) – as flos cuculi
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Lychnis flos-cuculi L., Sp. Pl. 436 (1753) – as Flos cuculi
  • ≡ Silene flos-cuculi (L.) Greuter & Burdet in Greuter & Raus, Willdenowia 12 (1982) nom. illeg., nom. superfl.
 Description

Flowering stems erect, 30–80 cm tall, with short appressed-reflexed hairs. Basal and lower stem lvs tufted, narrowly oblanceolate, acute, (40)–80–150 × (3)–5–15 mm, gradually tapered to long petiole; upper lvs linear-lanceolate, acute, sessile, connate in pairs, becoming smaller. Infl. a (3)–7–15-flowered dichasium; pedicels (5)–10–25 mm long; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 3–10 mm long. Calyx bell-shaped, 7–10 mm long, 10-veined; teeth triangular, ciliate, acute. Petals pink; claw c. = calyx; limb spreading, deeply 4-lobed or rarely deeply emarginate, 1–1.5 cm long. Capsule ovoid; carpophore very short or 0. Seeds brown, reniform, sharply warty, c. 0.8 mm long.

[From: Webb et al. (1985) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4 as Lychnis flos-cuculi L.]

 Biostatus
Exotic
 Bibliography
Clairville, de J.P. 1811: Manuel d'herborisation en Suisse et en Valais. Steiner-Ziegler.
Greuter, W. 1995: Silene (Caryophyllaceae) in Greece: a subgeneric and sectional classification. Taxon 44(4): 543–581.
Greuter, W.; Raus, T. 1982: Med-Checklist Notulae, 6. Willdenowia 12(2): 183–199.
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.