12. Silene stellata (L.) W.T. Aiton (starry campion)

S. stellata var. scabrella (Nieuwl.) E.J. Palmer & Steyerm.

Map 1491, Pl. 347 g, h

Plants perennial, with a thick, branched rootstock. Stems 30–110 cm long, erect or ascending, occasionally from a spreading base, unbranched below the inflorescence, moderately to densely pubescent with short, spreading to downward-curled, soft hairs, sometimes nearly glabrous toward the base. Basal leaves usually absent at flowering, when present shorter than the largest stem leaves, sessile or short-petiolate. Stem leaves in whorls of 4, mostly 6–12 pairs, short-petiolate to more commonly sessile. Leaf blades 3–10 cm long, lanceolate, angled or tapered at the base, tapered to a sharply pointed tip. Flowers perfect, in open terminal clusters or panicles, the stalks 0.5–2.5 cm long, glabrous or more commonly densely short-hairy, the bracts paired and resembling very small leaves, with green, herbaceous margins. Sepals 7–12 mm long, the tube with 10 faint nerves and sometimes with a very faint network of fine, irregularly anastomosing veins, deeply cup-shaped to bell-shaped, green, pale between the nerves, glabrous or minutely hairy, the lobes broadly triangular, green, bluntly to sharply pointed at the tip, with herbaceous and green or less commonly thin and white margins. Petals 5, 13–16 mm long, the expanded portion 5–8 mm long, irregularly 4–12-lobed (appearing more or less fringed) at the tip, white, lacking appendages. Styles 3. Capsules 6–8 mm long, dehiscing apically by 6 teeth, with a stalklike basal portion 2–3 mm long. Seeds 1.0–1.5 mm wide, kidney-shaped, the surface with fine papillae, dark brown to grayish black. 2n=48. June–September.

Scattered nearly throughout the state (eastern U.S. west to South Dakota and Texas). Bottomland forests, mesic to dry upland forests, savannas, bottomland prairies, banks of streams and rivers, and margins of ponds and lakes; also fencerows, railroads, and roadsides.