Silene drummondii (Drummond's Cockle) - photos and description
Stem leaves in above photo.
Basal leaves in above photo.
General: Slender, erect perennial, few-branched, with a rosette of basal leaves. Upper half of stem is sticky with glandular hairs.
Flowers: Flowers terminal from upper leaf axils. Petals are pale yellow, barely exerted or not exerted at all from sepals. Calyx is a cylindrical tube, not inflated, yellow green with green stripes, sticky to touch, calyx measured at 14 mm long.
Leaves: Basal leaves spatulate with long petioles. Basal leaves puberulent, basal leaf measured at 6 cm long (including petiole) and 11 mm wide. Stem leaves opposite, linear, long-pointed at tip, stem leaf measured at 48 mm long by 4 mm wide.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 70 cm, we measured plants to 67 cm tall.
Habitat: Sandy soils on open prairie.
Abundance: Fairly common, ranked as an S4 (= fairly common) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. Uncommon in our experience.
Origin: Native.
Synonym: Listed in some of the reference books we use as Lychnis drummondii.
When and where photographed: Took the above photos June 30th, and July 1st, grassy meadows along road, sandy soil, boreal forest, about 375 km north of Regina, SK, and July 1st, on sandy prairie, Douglas Provincial Park, 175 km north west of our home in Regina, SK.