A new silene from Washington 

 By C. V. Morton and J. W. Thompson 



Silene seelyi, sp. nov. — Species insignis ex affinitate S. 

 menziesii; herba 20 cm. alta; caules graciles, glanduloso-puberu- 

 lenti; folia sessilia, ovata vel lanceolata, parva, basi angustata, 

 apice acuta, integra, utrinque glanduloso-puberulenta, glandu- 

 loso-ciliolata; flores solitarii, pedunculati, pedunculo tenui, 

 glanduloso-puberulento; calyx viridis, non inflatus, obscure 

 10-nervatus, glanduloso-puberulentus, lobis acuminatis, erectis; 

 petala purpurea, lineari-oblanceolata, integra vel plerumque 

 bifida; stamina non exserta, filamentis basi connatis; ovarium 

 breviter stipitatum, 6 valvatum, ovulis numerosis; styli tres, 

 erecti. 



Perennial herb about 20 cm. high; stems slender, about 1 

 mm. thick, numerous, straw-colored, glandular-puberulent, with 

 internodes up to 3.5 cm. long; leaves opposite, exstipulate, con- 

 nected at base by a low rim, sessile, ovate to lanceolate, the 

 larger 2 cm. long and 1 cm. wide, narrowed at base, acute at 

 apex, entire, sparingly glandular-puberulent on both surfaces, 

 glandular-ciliolate; lateral veins and veinlets obscure; flowers 

 solitary, terminal, borne between a pair of leaves, the buds in 

 the leaf axils developing into lateral branches, thus producing a 

 false dichotomy; peduncles up to 2 cm. long, very slender, 

 about 0.4 mm. thick, green, glandular-puberulent; calyx cylin- 

 dric, the tube about 5 mm. long, 3 mm. broad, green, not scari- 

 ous, slightly inflated, inconspicuously 10-nerved, the lobes tri- 

 angular, acuminate, about 2 mm. long, erect, both the tube and 

 lobes densely glandular-puberulent; petals purple, about 11.5 

 mm. long, linear-oblanceolate, long and narrowly clawed, en- 

 tire or mostly bifid, bearing a pair of conspicuous interior scales 

 in the throat; stamens not equalling corolla, the filaments linear- 

 subulate, about 9 mm. long, connate at base into a glandular 

 tube about 1 mm. long, the anthers versatile, about 1 mm. long; 

 ovary short-stipitate (stipe about 1 mm. long), 1-celled, 6-valved 

 at apex, the placenta axial, with numerous ovules; styles 3, dis- 

 tinct, about 5 mm. long; mature fruit not seen. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 1,566,404, col- 

 lected in crevices of cliffs along Nigger Creek, Chelan County, 

 Washington, alt. about 1,200 meters, June 25, 1932, by J. W. 

 Thompson (no. 8565). 



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