Western Catchfly (Silene occidentalis)
Description
Silene occidentalis-is a perennial herb growing from a woody, leafy-caudex-and-taproot, sending up an erect, mostly unbranched stem which may be 60 centimeters tall. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 12 centimeters long around the caudex, and shorter farther up the stem. Flowers occur in a terminal cyme and sometimes in leaf axils. Each flower is encapsulated in a hairy, glandular calyx of fused-sepals. The calyx in this species can be very long, nearly 4 centimeters in length in subspecies-longistipata. At the end are five pink petals, each with usually four fringelike lobes at the tip.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Caryophyllales
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Family: Caryophyllaceae
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Genus: Silene
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