Lychnis chalcedonica — Details

Maltese-cross learn more about names for this taxon

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Overview

Distribution

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Lychnis chalcedonica L.:
Canada (North America)
Chile (South America)
Mongolia (Asia)
Russian Federation (Asia)
United States (North America)
China (Asia)
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National Distribution

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Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

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Distribution

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European part of the FSU (central and western regions), Siberia (southern and western regions), Central Asia (Kazakstan, Tien Shan) and Mongolia. Moist forest meadows, shrubs, ravines, edges.
  • Ornamental Plants from Russia and Adjacent States @ eFloras.org
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Physical Description

Morphology

Comments

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Silene chalcedonica is widely cultivated but rarely escapes and probably does not persist.
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Description

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Shortly rhizomatous plant, 35-75 cm. Stem leaves ovate-lanceolate or ovate, 2-10 cm x 1-5 cm. Inflorescence umbelliform-capitate, flowers flame red, numerous, large, 1-3 cm diam. V - early spring to late autumn, in St. Petersburg April-October. Fl - June-July. Fr - August. P - by seed, flowering the year after sowing. Recommended for planting in sunny places on well-drained soil. In cultivation since the XVI century. Z 4.
  • Ornamental Plants from Russia and Adjacent States @ eFloras.org
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Comments

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This species is also cultivated in Chinese gardens.
  • Flora of China @ eFloras.org
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Description

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Herbs perennial, 50--100 cm tall, hispid with multicellular eglandular hairs. Stems simple or rarely branched; sterile, dwarf, axillary shoots from short rhizomes present. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 5--12 × 2--5 cm, both surfaces sparsely pilose. Inflorescence a terminal, dense, corymblike, 10--50-flowered dichasium. Pedicel much shorter than calyx, slender; bracts lanceolate, small, herbaceous. Flowers 1.5--2 cm in diam. Calyx tubular or tubular-clavate, 1.2--1.5(--1.7) × ca. 3 mm, pilose at veins; teeth triangular-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm. Petal limb orange-red, broadly obovate, 7--9 mm, bifid to 1/3; lobes obovate, each with a subulate lateral tooth; claw oblanceolate, base ciliate; coronal scales linear, apex acute. Stamens slightly exserted. Androgynophore 4--6 mm. Capsule ovoid, 8--10 mm. Seeds dark red-brown, triangular-reniform, ca. 1 mm, sharply pointed tuberculate. Fl. summer--autumn, fr. autumn. 2n = 24, 48.
  • Flora of China @ eFloras.org
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Description

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Plants perennial, coarse, rhizomatous; rhizome branched, stout. Stems erect, few-branched, 50-100 cm, hispid. Leaves rounded into tightly sessile base; blade lanceolate to ovate, 5-12 cm × 20-60 mm, apex acute, sparsely scabrous-pubescent on both surfaces, scabrous-ciliate on abaxial margins and midrib; basal leaf blades broadly spatulate. Inflorescences subcapitate between terminal pair of leaves, 10-50-flowered, congested, bracteate; bracts lanceolate, herbaceous, ciliate. Flowers sessile to subsessile, 10-16 mm diam.; calyx 10-veined, narrow and tubular in flower, clavate in fruit, 12-17 mm, margins dentate, lobes triangular-lanceolate, 2.5-2.5 mm, coarsely hirsute; petals scarlet, sometimes white or pink, clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb spreading, obovate, deeply 2-lobed, 6-11 mm, shorter than calyx, appendages tubular, 2-3 mm; stamens equaling calyx; stigmas 5, equaling calyx. Capsules ovoid, 8-10 mm, opening by 5 teeth; carpophore 4-6 mm. Seeds dark reddish brown, reniform-rotund, 0.7-1 mm diam., coarsely papillate; papillae ca. as high as wide. 2n = 24 (Europe).
  • Flora of North America @ eFloras.org
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Diagnostic Description

Synonym

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Silene chalcedonica (Linnaeus) E. H. L. Krause.
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Synonym

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Lychnis chalcedonica Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 436. 1753; Agrostemma chalcedonica (Linnaeus) Doellinger
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Ecology

Habitat

Habitat & Distribution

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Gansu, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia].
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Habitat & Distribution

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Flowering summer. Roadsides, waste places, open woodlands; 0-300 m; introduced; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Conn., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Pa., Vt., Wis.; Europe.
  • Flora of North America @ eFloras.org
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Associations

Associations

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Foodplant / spot causer
amphigenous colony of Ramularia hyphomycetous anamorph of Ramularia didymarioides causes spots on live leaf of Lychnis chalcedonica

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / spot causer
mostly epiphyllous, scattered, brown pycnidium of Septoria coelomycetous anamorph of Septoria lychnidis causes spots on live leaf of Lychnis chalcedonica
Remarks: season: 5-9

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Conservation

Conservation Status

National NatureServe Conservation Status

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Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

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NatureServe Conservation Status

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Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

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Wikipedia

Lychnis chalcedonica

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Lychnis chalcedonica (Burning Love, Dusky Salmon, Flower of Bristol,[1] Jerusalem Cross, Maltese Cross, Nonesuch; syn. Silene chalcedonica) is a flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native from central and eastern European Russia east to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northwestern China.

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 35-100 cm tall with unbranched stems. The leaves are produced in opposite pairs, simple broad lanceolate, 2-12 cm long and 1-5 cm broad. The flowers are produced in clusters of 10-50 together; each flower is bright red, 1-3 cm diameter, with a deeply five-lobed corolla, with each lobe further split into two smaller lobes, which creates a general shape similar to the Maltese Cross to which it owes its name. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous seeds.

It was voted the county flower of Bristol in a 2002 following a poll by the wild flora conservation charity Plantlife.

Cultivation and uses

Lychnis chalcedonica is a popular ornamental plant in gardens. Numerous cultivars have been selected, varying in flower colour from bright red to orange-red, pink or white. It grows best in partial to full sun and in any good well-drained soil, if provided with a constant moisture supply. The flowering period is extended if faded flowers are removed. It is short-lived in poorly drained soil. Double flowered cultivars are propagated by division.

The species can become naturalised or even invasive if plants are allowed to set seed; it is naturalised in some parts of North America. Thomas Jefferson is known to have sowed this plant at Monticello in 1807.

Gallery

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  • Lychnis chalcedonica1.jpg

References

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  1. ^ "The Nonesuch: Remarkable Flower of Bristol". http://www.nonesuchinfo.info/features/nonesuch/nonesuch-flower-of-bristol.htm. [dead link]
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