About Silene regia Sims
Silene regia is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, commonly known as royal catchfly. It is a perennial herb native to the central United States, specifically the tallgrass prairie of the American Midwest. This species grows from a fleshy taproot, producing several upright stems that can reach up to 1.6 meters (5 ft 3 in) tall. Its leaves are lance-shaped to oval, growing up to 12 centimeters (4.7 in) long, and they become smaller as they grow higher on the stem. The inflorescence is an arrangement of flowers at the top of the stem. The elongate tubular calyx of sepals can reach up to 2.5 centimeters (0.98 in) long and has 10 longitudinal veins. The lobes of its bright red corolla measure 1 to 2 centimeters (0.39 to 0.79 in) long. Its flowers are pollinated by the ruby-throated hummingbird. Silene regia is similar to two other red-flowered Silene species native to eastern North America: S. virginica and S. rotundifolia. It can be found in grasslands, woodlands, roadsides, rocky outcrops, and pastures, always growing in open, sunny locations. It has been recorded in the U.S. states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. It has been extirpated from Kansas and Tennessee, and it is rare across most of its remaining range. It is state-listed as a threatened species in Ohio, and it may be most abundant in Missouri. Populations of Silene regia in Missouri and Arkansas, which fall in the western part of its range, have higher genetic diversity than populations in Indiana and Alabama in the eastern part of its range. There is very little gene flow between distant populations, which means habitat fragmentation has caused strong genetic differences between groups. Population size and geographic isolation directly and strongly influence the amount of genetic variation in this rare prairie species. The main threat to Silene regia is habitat loss caused by conversion to agricultural land. Its native prairie habitat has been so greatly reduced that the species now grows mainly along roadsides and on rights-of-way. It is also threatened by fire suppression, which disrupts the natural fire regime that maintains the open, sunny habitat the species requires. When fire is suppressed, larger and woody vegetation encroaches on the habitat, and Silene regia cannot compete with this new growth.
