Silene dichotoma
Ehrh. Forked CatchflyStout annual or biennial. Stems erect, branched dichotomously above, puberulent or hispid-pubescent, 15–45(–70) cm high. Leaves 30–60 mm long, 5–20 mm wide, white-villose; basal leaves petiolate, petioles 10–20 mm long, spathulate to lanceolate; upper leaves sessile, lanceolate. Inflorescence racemose, branches 5–10-flowered, spreading or drooping; bracts small with scarious margins, at least basally. Pedicels very short. Calyx ovoid-oblong in fruit, not inflated, 7–17 mm long, 10-veined, veins green, puberulent between; calyx lobes ovate-lanceolate, acute. Petal-limb white or pink, deeply bifid, 4–8 mm long. Styles 3. Capsule ovoid, 10–14 mm long; carpophore 1.5–4 mm long, glabrous. Seeds reniform, blackish-brown, tuberculate, 1–1.4 mm long Flowers Nov.–Apr.
MuM, VRiv. Also naturalised SA, Tas. Native to southern and south-eastern Europe, western and south-western Asia. Known in Victoria from 1931 collection from Rochester, and a 1986 collection from sandy mallee in the Sunset Country just east of the South Australian border.
Adams, L.G. (1996). Caryophyllaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 228–271. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
