Silene nuda

Sticky catchfly, Sticky Catchfly

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Sticky catchfly is a California native perennial found in northern and central Sierra Nevada Mountains and Modoc Plateau in shrubland, juniper woodland, and conifer forest at elevations of 1,200 to 1,900 meters. Flowering during summer, this plant produces delicate pink flowers with petals 5 to 10 millimeters long, featuring distinctive two-lobed limbs. Growing 15 to 50 centimeters tall with erect stems that are distinctively glandular-hairy, it develops a sparse caudex with few branches. Its leaves are notably variable, with basal leaves 6 to 15 centimeters long and 10 to 30 millimeters wide, oblanceolate to elliptic, transitioning to narrower linear to lanceolate cauline leaves above. The fruit is small and conic to elliptic, bearing seeds about 1 to 1.5 millimeters long and brown in color.

Habitat: shrubland, juniper woodland, conifer forest

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: 1200-1900 m

Bioregions: n&ampc SNH, MP

California counties: Plumas, Lassen, Modoc, Sierra, El Dorado, Shasta

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