Silene nutans L.
Taprooted perennial. Stems arising from a basal rootstock, hispid, 30-60 cm tall. Lvs hispid; lower lvs oblong- to obovate-spathulate, acuminate, long-petiolate, 3-8 cm long; upper lvs ovate to obovate, acuminate, sessile, 1-4 cm long. Infl. a 12-20-flowered panicle with an erect central axis and 3-flowered lateral branches; fls nodding, ⚥; pedicels (1)-2-5 cm long; bracts lanceolate, acuminate, green. Calyx glandular-pubescent, narrow-cylindric at flowering, inflated at fruiting, narrowed at mouth, 10-veined, 13-16 mm long. Petals white, deeply 2-fid; claw not lobed, long-exserted; coronal scales narrowly triangular, acute, c. 1 mm long. Styles 3, erect, recurved at apex, c. 12 mm long. Capsule ovoid, slightly exceeding calyx, 10-12 mm long; teeth 6; carpophore 2-3 mm long. Seeds red-brown, reniform, with flat faces and grooved back, warty, c. 0.8 mm long.
N.: Matamata, Wellington; S.: Nelson (Maitai Valley), Christchurch.
Europe 1880
Collected only once since 1940, waste places.
The panicle of S. nutans, with an erect central axis and 3-flowered lateral branches of nodding fls, distinguishes it from most other spp. of Silene and Lychnis in N.Z. S. italica has a similar infl. but very short calyx hairs and a longer gynophore; it has not been collected in N.Z. since c. 1850.
