Silene aperta

Naked catchfly, tulare campion, Tulare Campion

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Naked catchfly is a California native perennial found in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains in open areas and conifer forest at elevations of 1,800 to 2,800 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces white to yellow-green flowers with petals 12 to 20 millimeters long and four-lobed limbs. Growing with erect stems 15 to 60 centimeters tall that are puberulent (softly hairy), it develops many branched caudex stems. Its leaves range from linear to oblanceolate, with basal and middle leaves 5 to 12 centimeters long and 1 to 4 millimeters wide, becoming progressively smaller and narrower toward the stem's upper portions. The fruit is a small ovoid structure carried on a short 1 to 2 millimeter puberulent stalk.

Habitat: Open areas, conifer forest

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: 1800-2800 m

Bioregions: s SNH.

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.