Silene uniflora


Silene uniflora is a species of flowering plant in the carnation family known by the common name sea campion.

Description

Silene uniflora is a perennial plant that forms a mat with stems growing outwards to between 10 and 40 cm. A plant will grow a large main root that can be a thick storage root like that of a carrot or turnip. The stems can grow along the ground or grow upwards towards their ends.
The leaves are hairless and glaucous, grey-green due to a covering of natural waxes. They have a fleshy texture and a variety of shapes including lanceolate, oblanceolate, elliptic or spatulate. The flowers white with five deeply notched petals, the five sepals fused and inflated to form a bladder. Each flower has three pistils and three stamens that are almost enclosed by the flower.
It is similar in appearance to the bladder campion but with flowers generally solitary.

Taxonomy

In 1762 Carl Linnaeus named Silene amoena, a species that does not have the same description as Silene uniflora, but is regarded as a synonym of Silene uniflora subsp. uniflora. The scientific description and naming of the species as a whole was by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth in 1794. It is classified in the genus Silene which is in the family Caryophyllaceae.

Subspecies

The sea campion has three subspecies listed as accepted by Plants of the World Online :
  • S. uniflora subsp. petraea
Endemic to Sweden
  • S. uniflora subsp. thorei
Native to Southwest France
  • S. uniflora subsp. uniflora
Atlantic Europe, the Azores, Madeira
However, other sources such as the World Flora Online and World Plants list additional subspecies as accepted.
  • Silene uniflora subsp. cratericola
  • Silene uniflora subsp. glareosa
  • Silene uniflora subsp. prostrata
There are synonyms of sea campion or one of its three subspecies.

Names

Silene uniflora is known by the common name sea campion. The first use of this name dates to 1597.

Range and habitat

Silene uniflora
Silene uniflora is a maritime species growing in many European countries, but almost entirely along the coasts bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. In northern Europe, it is native to the coasts of Scandinavia including Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Russia as far east as the Kola Peninsula. It is also listed as native to Poland by POWO. It is not found in, or native to, the Baltic States or Russia on the Baltic Sea. In western Europe, it is native to the west coast of France, the northern coast of Spain, and a limited area in northern Portugal. It grows all around the shores of Ireland and the United Kingdom, and is also found in some mountainous areas near fresh water, though only rarely. Further out in the Atlantic Ocean, it is native to the Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Iceland.
It has been introduced to Germany, Argentina, and New Zealand.
It is one of the long-lived perennial plant species that establish on coastal shingle that has been stable for between five and twenty years. It also grows in the dunes and at the strandline on beaches.