Silene virginica
by  Jorge Saldivia

Common Name:

Fire Pink

Higher Taxa:

Class              Magnoliopsida
Subclass              Caryophyllidae
Order                        Caryophyllales [Centrospermae]
Family                            Caryophyllaceae
Subfamily                            Caryophylloideae [Silenoideae]
Tribe                                        Sileneae
Genus                                            Silene

Identification:

  Steere(1967) describes the Fire Pink as having petals cleft at the end into two incurved points.  It grows two feet tall or taller with the stems bearing some hairs and glands.  The leaves on the stem are in several pairs up to a foot long, widest between the middle and tip, and quite smooth.   S. virginica has deep red petals. 

Geography:

    The Fire Pink can be seen during the months of July to September in woods and on rocky slopes from western New York to southern Ontario and Minnesota and southward to Georgia and Oklahoma. (Steere, 1967)

Table I.  Distribution of S.virginica

Table of Contents
   Table I.  S. stellata
References