山蚂蚱草 shan ma zha cao

Silene dasyphylla Turczaninow; ?S. graminifolia var. parviflora Ledebour; ?S. jenissea Poiret; ?S. jenissea Stephan ex Bunge; ?S. jenissea var. parviflora Turczaninow; ?S. jenissea var. setifolia Turczaninow; ?S. jenisseensis var. oliganthella (Nakai ex Kitagawa) Y. C. Chu; ?S. jenisseensis f. parviflora (Turczaninow) Schischkin; ?S. jenisseensis f. setifolia (Turczaninow) Schischkin; ?S. jenisseensis var. vegetior Popov; ?S. oliganthella Nakai ex Kitagawa; ?S. pauciflora (F. N. Williams) Nakai; ?S. tenuis Willdenow var. jenissea Rohrbach; ?S. tenuis var. pauciflora F. N. Williams.

Herbs perennial, 20--50 cm tall. Roots robust, lignified. Stems caespitose, erect or suberect, simple, glabrous, usually with many axillary sterile shoots at base. Basal leaves numerous, narrowly oblanceolate or lanceolate-linear, 5--13 cm × 2--7 mm, midvein prominent, base attenuate into long petiole, margin ciliate at base; cauline leaves few, small, clasping at base. Flowers in a racemiform thyrse; cymules opposite, proximal ones usually with more than one flower, distal ones with a solitary flower; peduncles very short. Pedicel 4--18 mm, glabrous; bracts ovate or lanceolate, base slightly connate, margin membranous, ciliate, apex acuminate. Calyx narrowly campanulate, slightly inflated in fruit, 8--10(--12) mm, glabrous, longitudinal veins green or violet. Androgynophore ca. 2 mm, shortly hairy. Petal claws narrowly oblanceolate, glabrous, without obvious auricles; limbs white or pale greenish, bifid to middle; lobes linear, apex obtuse; coronal scales small. Stamens and styles exserted; filaments glabrous. Styles 3. Capsule ovoid, 6--7 mm. Seeds grayish brown, reniform, ca. 1 mm. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep. 2n = 24.

Forest margins, forested grasslands, shifting alpine screes, steppes, sandy steppes, mountain grasslands, gravelly grasslands, dune margins; 200--1000 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shanxi [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].

No type material has been seen by the present authors. Such material is necessary for a complete understanding of this very difficult group ( Silene jenisseensis and the following two species), which has numerous forms and varieties described from the region of the former Soviet Union. The treatment here is to a large extent in agreement with Fl. URSS and herbarium determinations in BM, K, E, and P (but see note under S. graminifolia ).