(W.W. Sm.) Bocquet
Description
Silene indica var. bhutanica is a campion of the high Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, Bhutan, India and adjacent China. It occupies alpine and upper subalpine habitats, growing on open grassy slopes, stony pastures, screes and rocky ground in the high mountains, generally between about 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed plant comes from the Shele-La in Bhutan at around 4000 m, flowering in September towards the close of the monsoon season. With only eighteen georeferenced records this variety is sparsely documented, in keeping with its restricted eastern Himalayan range and the difficulty of access to its high-altitude habitats.
It is an erect to ascending perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, the stems usually several, simple or sparingly branched and often glandular-pubescent above. The leaves are opposite, linear-lanceolate to oblong, sessile or shortly stalked, with entire ciliate margins. The flowers are borne in a lax cymose inflorescence; each has a tubular, inflated and prominently 10-veined calyx, often glandular and tinged purple, enclosing the claws of the petals. The five petals are pink to purplish, the limb bifid or notched and bearing a small scaly corona at the throat. There are ten stamens and three styles, characteristic of the genus, and the fruit is a capsule dehiscing by apical teeth and shedding numerous reniform seeds.
Silene is the largest genus of Caryophyllaceae, and var. bhutanica is distinguished within the variable S. indica complex by features of indumentum, calyx and petal form, its delimitation depending on revisionary treatment of Himalayan Silene. Given its narrow range and few records, its conservation status is poorly known; restricted high-alpine taxa of this kind are potentially vulnerable to grazing and climatic shifts.
Author: (W.W. Sm.) Bocquet · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Bocquet's revisions of Asian Silene