Flora of New Zealand Series

Taprooted annual or biennial. Stems 1-several, erect, glabrous, usually with a dark sticky patch c. 1 cm long beneath upper nodes, (10)-20-50 cm tall. Lvs glabrous, glaucous; basal lvs obovate to oblanceolate to spathulate, subacute to acute, cuneate at base, 3-6 × 0.5-1.5 cm; stem lvs ovate to lanceolate, sessile and amplexicaul at base, acute, (1.5)-2-7-(10) × (0.5)-1-2-(2.5) cm. Infl. a 10-30-flowered sub-capitate dichasium; pedicels 2-5-(9) mm long; bracts ovate, scarious. Fls ⚥. Calyx glabrous, narrowly cylindric, broadest above middle, not or slightly contracted at mouth, 10-veined, often pinkish, 12-15 mm long; teeth oblong, obtuse, erect. Petals pink; limb obtuse to shallowly emarginate; claw not lobed; coronal scales linear-acuminate, c. 2 mm long. Styles 3, erect, c. 5 mm long. Capsule oblong, included in calyx, 5-7 mm long; teeth 6; carpophore c. 6 mm long. Seeds red-brown, reniform, finely warty, 0.6 mm long; faces hollowed; back grooved.

N.: Rotorua, Manawatu, Wellington; S.: Nelson, Canterbury.

C., S. and parts of E. Europe, C. USSR 1880

Waste land, gardens, roadsides, stony ground.

FL Dec-Jan-(Apr) FT Dec-Feb-(May).

S. armeria is distinguished from other Silene and Lychnis spp. in N.Z. by its glabrous glaucous auriculate upper lvs and capitate dichasium of small pink fls. The sp. is sometimes cultivated and naturalised plants are often garden escapes.