Silene littorea is a species of flowering plant within the family Caryophyllaceae. The species has the gynodioecy–gynomonoecy sexual system. It is one of the most studied species with this sexual system.
Description Silene littorea is a low growing annual plant reaching heights of around 15 cm tall. The plant is covered in sticky hairs known as trichomes.
Flowers Silene littorea flowers are about 2 cm in diameter and possess five petals. The species exhibits flower colour polymorphism: with light pink, dark pink and white flowered colour morphs being present within Silene littorea populations.Casimiro-Soriguer, Ines & Narbona, Eduardo & Buide, Mª Luisa & Del Valle, Jose & Whittall, Justen. (2016). Transcriptome and Biochemical Analysis of a Flower Color Polymorphism in Silene littorea (Caryophyllaceae). Frontiers in Plant Science. 7. 10.3389/fpls.2016.00204. The flowers of Silene lottorea can either be female or hermaphordite.Guitián, Pablo & Medrano, Monica. (2000). Sex expression and fruit set in Silene littorea (Caryophyllaceae): Variation among populations. Nordic Journal of Botany. 20. 467 - 473. 10.1111/j.1756-1051.2000.tb01589.x. An individual plant can possess any three sexual phenotypes, with plants possessing either female only flowers, hermaphorodite only flowers or even a mix of both.
Distribution The species is native to Morocco, Portugal, Spain. The population of this species has been observed to be declining in Spain. The species is rare in Gibraltr and restricted to eastern sandy slopes.
Habitat Silene littorea grows in sandy soils on coastal locations. It can often be found inhabiting coastal sand dunes.Del Valle, Jose & Buide, Mª Luisa & Whittall, Justen & Narbona, Eduardo. (2018). Phenotypic plasticity in light-induced flavonoids varies among tissues in Silene littorea (Caryophyllaceae). Environmental and Experimental Botany. 153. 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2018.05.014.
Subspecies The following subspecies are recognised:
Silene littorea adscendens Silene littorea littorea
References