SHAHINA A. GHAZANFAR & YASIN J. NASIR

Perennial, 15-30 cm. Stems very slender, glabrous, branching divaricately from the base. Leaves 10-22 x 1 mm, narrowly linear, glabrous, sulcate, apex acute, margin shortly ciliate. Flowers 1 (-2) at the end of branch forming a lax paniculate inflorescence. Bracteoles 4, covering 1/3 the calyx length, 3-5 mm, ovate, acuminate to cuspidate with scarious ciliate margins. Calyx 10-12 (-14) mm, pale greyish-green, glabrous; teeth 1.5-2 mm, lanceolate, acute with a ciliate hyaline margin, petals pale-pinkish (fide Bowes Lyon 715); limb oblong dentate at apex, barbulate on the upper surface.

Fl. Per.: Late May-July.

Type: (USSR, C. Asia) Kirghizia, Prope stationem viae ferrae Dzhelalabad, ad ripam fl. Kugart. Fl. 4. V111. 1920. Leg. N. Androsscv in Herb. As. Sc. URSS. Conservatusm (LE).

Distribution: Central Asia W. Tien Shan, N. W. Pakistan.

A distinct species, distinguished by its slender divaricate branches. Sometimes mistaken for Silene arenosa C. Koch. Occurs in Chitral from 1200-1370 m.