Auriculatae

Lidén, Magnus & Oxelman, Bengt, 2023, FLORA OF NEPAL NOTULAE IV: NEW SPECIES AND RESURRECTED NAMES IN SILENE, Edinburgh Journal of Botany 80 (367), pp. 1-28 : 2

Section Auriculatae

The species in Silene sect. Auriculatae are characterised by a perennial habit, caespitose growth, oblong-clavate calyx, finely pubescent androgynophore, and three styles. As regards the Sino-Himalayan species in this section, Silene moorcroftiana , with its laxly caespitose habit with soft, oblanceolate, densely glandular hairy leaves and non-papillate seeds, is the odd species out. It inhabits sandy or gravelly soils and screes at high altitudes and is widely distributed in Central, West and Southwest Tibet and adjacent parts of the Himalayas.

The remaining Himalayan species form an eastern continuation of a Central Asiatic group of chasmophytic species, with linear leaves with antrorse-scabrid margin, marcescent basal petioles, and (in the Himalayan species) papillate seeds. A multitude of taxa have been described from West and Central Asia, whereas the Himalayan representatives have been neglected. Here we describe two species occurring in Nepal. Despite several striking differences, they were previously subsumed under Silene moorcroftiana . In view of this, it seems appropriate to contrast them with Silene moorcroftiana and to each other in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.