Silene vulgaris
 
Bladder Campion

Flower Side

Ruby Lake North of Hudson Bay
17-July-2020

The inflated calyx has twenty main veins and many cross veins creating a reticulate pattern.  The petals have a claw-limb configuration and the distal portion of the claw is dilated.  Note that five of the ten stamens are exserted in this specimen.

Note that Budd's Flora recognized two related genera - Silene and Lychnis. Today Lychnis is subsumed in a larger Silene. Therefore the answers separating Silene from Lychnis have been removed from the answers leading to the genus and added to the answers leading to the species.

Vulgaris: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this species.

styles usually 3; NOT [styles 5]

capsule usually divided into partitions at base; NOT [capsule1-celled to base]

perennial plants; NOT [annual or biennial plants]

plants with elongate, erect or decumbent stems; NOT [plants densely matted or cushion-forming]

calyx glabrous, or if pubescent, not glandular; NOT [calyx more or less glandular pubescent]

calyx 10-15 mm long, with 20 main veins, strongly reticulate;  NOT [calyx to 8  mm long, with 10 simple veins]

 

Silene: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 

plants NOT with woody base

calyx without bracts; NOT [calyx with 1-3 pairs of bracts below]

sepals united part way, forming a tube; NOT [sepals entirely separate]

lobes of sepals NOT over 20 mm long; NOT [sepals with long, leaf-like lobes, over 20 mm long]

petals usually present; NOT [petals absent]

petals clawed; NOT [petals lacking claws]

styles 3-5; NOT [styles 2]

styles alternate with the petals; NOT [styles opposite the petals]

ovary stipitate

fruit dehiscent; NOT [fruit indehiscent]

fruit several-seeded; NOT [fruit 1-seeded]

 

Caryophyllaceae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family. 

herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]

terrestrial plants; NOT [mud plants with small axillary flowers]

plants NOT with colored milky juice

plants with more than one normal leaf

leaves opposite, whorled, or basal; NOT [some or all leaves alternate]

leaves NOT glandular-dotted

plants without large petal-like bracts; NOT [plants with an involucre of 4 petal-like bracts]

flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others

sepals more than 2; NOT [sepals 2]

stamens NOT united at base; NOT [stamens united at base into 3-5 bundles]

styles 2 or more; NOT [styles single]