Grand Canyon Campion (Silene rectiramea)
Description
Plants perennial; taproot stout; caudex much-branched, woody. Stems several, erect from decumbent base, branched, 20-40 cm, sparsely scabrid-puberulent, stipitate-glandular distally. Leaves 2 per node; basal shortly petiolate, blade oblanceolate, apex acute, sparsely puberulent; cauline sessile, in 3-6 pairs, blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 3-8 cm � 3-8 mm, apex acute, scabrid-puberulent. Inflorescences cymose, open, branches few, ascending, elongate, 5-10 cm, flowers 1-3 per branch, bracteate; bracts lanceolate, 3-5 mm, apex acute. Pedicels usually shorter than or to 11/ 2 times calyx, scabrous-puberulent, viscid. Flowers bisexual and unisexual, all flowers having bisexual flowers and staminate unisexual flowers, 6-8 mm diam.; calyx prominently 10-veined, narrowly campanulate in flower, campanulate in fruit, 7-10(-11) � 4-6 mm, only slightly contracted around carpophore, papery and mem-branous, sparsely scabrid with short glandular-setose hairs, veins parallel, green, with pale commissures, margins dentate, lobes broadly ovate (as broad as long), 1-2 mm, not ciliate; corolla cream or white, tinged purple, claw slightly exceeding calyx, narrowly triangular, auriculate, puberulent at base, limb oblong, 2-lobed, 2-4 mm, lobes entire, appendages 0.1-0.5 mm and broad, entire; stamens equaling petals; styles 3, equaling petals, reduced in functionally staminate flowers. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, equaling calyx, opening by 6 spreading teeth; carpophore ca. 2 mm. Seeds brown, reniform-triangular, ca. 1 mm; papillate mainly around margin.
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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