Silene csereii Baumg.

Smooth Catchfly

© SRTurner

Family - Caryophyllaceae

Habit - Annual or biennial forb.

Stem - Ascending to erect, to 75 cm, sometimes branched at the base, glabrous and usually strongly glaucous.

	Stem and leaves.
© SRTurner

	Stem and node.
© SRTurner

Leaves - Opposite, sessile, simple. Basal rosette present but beginning to wither at flowering. Stem leaf blades 3.0-7.5 cm long, somewhat thickened and succulent, broadly oblanceolate to obovate or occasionally lanceolate to ovate, tapered at the base, angled or abruptly short-tapered to a sharply pointed tip, glabrous, usually strongly glaucous.

	Leaves. Note glaucousness of stem.
© SRTurner

Inflorescences - Terminal, slender, usually elongated panicles, often forked basally. Flower stalks 1.0-2.5 cm long, glabrous, the bracts paired and resembling highly reduced leaves, with thin, white margins.

	Inflorescence.
© SRTurner

Flowers - Flowers perfect. Sepals 7-10 mm long, the tube with 20 indistinct, parallel, rarely anastomosing nerves, somewhat inflated, oblong-ovoid to ellipsoid, constricted at both ends and tightly enclosing the fruit, pale green or faintly purplish-tinged, not lighter between the nerves, glabrous, the lobes triangular, pale green or somewhat purplish-tinged, angled or short-tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins thin and white. Petals 5, 10-15 mm long, the expanded portion 3-5 mm long, 2-lobed at the tip, white, with a pair of small appendages on the upper surface at the base of the expanded portion. Styles 3.

	Calyx and styles.
© SRTurner

	Corolla, 7:30 a.m.
© SRTurner

	Corollas, 11:30 a.m.
© SRTurner

Fruits - Capsules 7-10 mm long, dehiscing apically by 6 teeth, with a basal stalklike portion 0.7-1.0 mm long. Seeds 0.6-1.0 mm wide, kidney-shaped and plump, the surface with minute papillae, grayish brown.

	Fruit (calyx pulled back).
© SRTurner

	Fruit and seeds.
© SRTurner

Flowering - May - September.

Habitat - Mine tailings, dolomite glades, railroads, roadsides, open, disturbed areas.

Origin - Native to Europe.

Other info. - This species is easily recognized by the strong glaucousness of all parts of the plant, its thickened, succulent leaves, and white flowers. As is common with members of this genus, the flowers are fully open only in the early morning, closing by noon, especially on sunny days. The plant seems partial to barren mine tailings, surviving in this harsh environment which supports little else.

Photographs taken at St. Joe State Park, St. Francois County, MO, 6-2-2013, at Missouri Mines State Historic Site, St. Francois County, MO, 5-17-2018, and St. Joe State Park, St. Francois County, MO, 7-11-2025 (SRTurner).