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Monday, July 27, 2009

Nevada Catchfly-Silene nachlingerae

This inconspicuous flower in the Pink Family (Caryophyllaceae) is Nevada Catchfly (Silene nachlingerae), also known as Nachlinger's Campion. It is native only to the state of Nevada and considered to be a rare plant. Lucky for us, the limestone-rich area where we were hiking we saw many, although despite dozens of photos, most turned out blurry!

They are generally found from 7,000-11,000 feet in elevation, and the ones we saw were primarily on canyon bottoms.

Here's a closeup of the flower. It can be distinguished from its close relative Silene drummondi by not being sticky.
For more info about Nevada Catchfly, click here.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi! I am a graduate student doing research on rare Silene an am very interested in this species. I have a permit for my research, and what I do out in the field in non-destructive to the plant. I would be very grateful if you wouldn’t mind sharing location information with me over email- my email is jennamiladin@gmail.com. Thank you so much!