Silene bolanderi

Bolander's catchfly

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Bolander's catchfly is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in northern coastal California (NCoRO) in serpentine and non-serpentine oak and conifer woodlands at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering in spring, this plant produces pale pink to white flowers with distinctive petal structures, featuring inner lobes that are narrow and at least five times longer than wide. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 5 to 20 centimeters tall and covered in soft, wavy hairs, it forms a plant with multiple caudex branches. Its leaves are oblanceolate, slightly reduced toward the stem's top, measuring 2 to 8 centimeters long and 8 to 25 millimeters wide. The plant's flowers have a unique corolla structure with exserted stamens positioned evenly around the throat and prominent paired ridges on the petal claws.

Habitat: Serpentine and non-serpentine soils, oak, conifer woodland

Bloom period: Spring

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: NCoRO

California counties: Trinity, Humboldt, Mendocino, Shasta

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