Silene noctiflora (Night-flowering Catchfly) - photos and description
Flower open at 8 pm in the evening
Flower open at 7:30 pm in the evening
Above photo taken at 8:15 pm, flowers open
Photo taken at 7:30 pm, flowers opening
Above photo taken at 8:15 pm, flowers open
Flowers opening at 7:30 pm
Photo taken at 3 pm, flower bud will open that evening
The calyx swells in days after the flower is spent, photo taken at 3
pm
Photo taken at 3 pm, flowers not open in afternoon
Above photo taken at 3 pm, flowers not open during afternoon
Above photo taken at 3 pm, flowers not open during afternoon
Photo taken at 3 pm, spent flowers from previous nights
General: Upright annual, branching mid-stem. Foliage villous, with long white hairs and shorter glandular hairs. Foliage is sticky, particularly the inflorescence. Has been declared a noxious weed in Saskatchewan.
Flowers: Elongated racemes from upper leaf axils. Flowers open in evenings, in our plants beginning about 7 pm. Flowers white or pinkish-white, having 5 petals each divided to the middle, we measured a flower from 20 - 23 mm diameter. The calyx has 10 prominent green or brownish green veins. The calyx has 5 linear lobes, we measured the lobes to 5 mm long. The calyx is oblong when the flower is new or in bud, the calyx swells to an ovate shape once the flower is spent. Each flower is perfect - having both stamens and pistils. Flowers have a slight fragrance.
Leaves: Leaves are cauline, sessile, opposite, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, entire. We measured a leaf mid-stem at 55 mm long and 13 mm wide. Each pair of leaves grows at a right angle to the pair of leaves above and below it.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 90 cm, we measured plants to 64 cm tall.
Habitat: Crops and ditches in southern Saskatchewan.
Abundance: Common.
Origin: Introduced.
How to identify this species: Annual, foliage sticky, flowers open in the evening, the flowers are perfect (each flower has pistils and stamens), the calyx has 5 linear teeth each about 5 mm long, the calyx has 10 prominent green or brownish green veins, the calyx is oblong in shape for new flowers and after the flowers are spent the calyx swells to an ovate shape, flowers are more or less white and 20 to 23 mm in diameter.
Similar species: This plant can be confused with
Silene latifolia (White Cockle).
Both species:
- have +or- white flowers, the flowers with five petals, the petals
cleft, the flowers open in the evening, the flowers with swollen
calyxes.
- opposite leaves, each pair growing at 90 degrees to the pair above and
below them
- sticky foliage, particularly towards the end of stems (although S.
noctiflora is much stickier).
- flowers with strongly veined (striped) calyxes. The veins
reddish-brown in colour.
The differences:
- S. latifolia has male and female flowers on separate plants,
while S. noctiflora has perfect flowers each flower has stamens
and pistils.
- The calyxes of the female flowers of S. latifolia have 20
veins (male flowers 10 veins), while the calyxes of S. noctiflora
have 10 veins.
- S. latifolia is perennial with a taproot, S. noctiflora
is annual with fibrous roots.
When and where photographed: The above photos were taken July 19th and 20th, weedy ditch beside grid road about 10 km southeast of our home in Regina, SK.