Silene pseudoatocion
Desf.Annual. Stems procumbent to erect, branched, glandular pubescent, 15–50 cm high. Leaves shortly petiolate or sessle, 20–50 mm long, 10–40 mm wide, sparsely pubescent or glabrescent. Inflorescence a lax dichasium, often corymbose; bracts herbaceous, leaf-like. Pedicles shorter than calyx. Calyx narrowly clavate, slightly expanded apically in fruit, 16–22 mm long, with glandular and eglandular hairs, distinctly 10-veined, veins green or purple, narrow, with wide hyaline bands between them; calyx-lobes triangular, c. 5 mm long, acute. Petal-limb bright pink, entire, c. 10 mm long; styles 3. Capsule ovoid, 7–9 mm long, carpophore 9–11 mm long, pubescent; seeds broadly reniform, 1.5–1.8 mm long, lateral faces deeply hollowed, brown, transversely elongate-tuberculate, broad and flat dorsally. Flowers Aug., Sep. (2 records).
GipP, WaP. Also naturalised in SA. Native to the Mediterranean. Weakly naturalised on low dunes at Port Fairy where escaped from a coastal garden, also collected once near Boneo on the Mornington Peninsula. At both sites establishing on calcium-rich sands.
Grown as a hardy coastal ornamental.
This species was formerly (incorrectly) identified in Victoria as Silene pendula L. The epithet is sometimes spelled 'pseudatocion'.
