Silene uniflora is a species of flowering plant in the carnation family known by the common name sea campion.
Description
Silene uniflora is a perennial plant that forms a mat with stems growing outwards to between 10 and 40 cm. A plant will grow a large main root that can be a thick storage root like that of a carrot or turnip.[2] The stems can grow along the ground or grow upwards towards their ends.[3]
The leaves are hairless and glaucous, grey-green due to a covering of natural waxes.[4] They have a fleshy texture and a variety of shapes including lanceolate, oblanceolate, elliptic or spatulate.[2] The flowers white with five deeply notched petals, the five sepals fused and inflated to form a bladder.[4] Each flower has three pistils and three stamens that are almost enclosed by the flower.[5]
It is similar in appearance to the bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) but with flowers generally solitary.[6]
Taxonomy
In 1762 Carl Linnaeus named Silene amoena, a species that does not have the same description as Silene uniflora, but is regarded as a synonym of Silene uniflora subsp. uniflora.[7] The scientific description and naming of the species as a whole was by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth in 1794. It is classified in the genus Silene which is in the family Caryophyllaceae.[1]
Silene uniflora is known by the common name sea campion.[6] The first use of this name dates to 1597.[12]
Range and habitat
Silene unifloraSilene uniflora is a maritime species growing in many European countries, but almost entirely along the coasts bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea.[2] In northern Europe it is native to the coasts of Scandinavia including Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Russia as far east as the Kola Peninsula.[13][2] It is also listed as native to Poland by POWO. It is not found or native to the Baltic States or Russia on the Baltic Sea.[1] In western Europe it is native to the west coast of France, the northern coast of Spain, and a limited area in northern Portugal.[13] It grows all around the shores of Ireland and the United Kingdom and is also some mountainous areas near fresh water,[6] though only rarely.[4] Further out in the Atlantic Ocean it is native to the Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Iceland.[1]
It has been introduced to Germany, Argentina, and New Zealand.[11]
It is one of the long-lived perennial plant species that establish on coastal shingle that has been stable for between five and twenty years.[14] It also grows in the dunes and at the strandline on beaches.[15]
Packham, John R.; Willis, A. J. (1997). Ecology of Dunes, Salt Marsh, and Shingle (First ed.). London ; New York: Chapman & Hall. ISBN978-0-412-57980-6. OCLC37764809.
Anderberg, Arne (10 November 2005) [1997]. "Silene uniflora Roth — Strandglim" ['Silene uniflora Roth — Beach slips]. Den virtuella floran [The Virtual Flora] (in Swedish). Naturhistoriska riksmuseet. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
Anderberg, Arne (10 November 2005) [1997]. "Silene uniflora Roth — Strandglim: Norra halvklotet" ['Silene uniflora Roth — Beach slips: Northern Hemisphere]. Den virtuella floran [The Virtual Flora] (in Swedish). Naturhistoriska riksmuseet. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
Talavera, Salvador (1991). Laínz, M.; Muñoz Garmendia, F. (eds.). "Silene"(PDF). Flora Iberica (in Spanish). Real Jardín Botánico. pp. 313–406. Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 April 2025. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
