A record of Silene viscaria (L.) Jess. (Caryophyllaceae) with achromatic flowers in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve (Central Russia)

Abstract

Silene viscaria (L.) Jess. is a common species of Central Russian flora. It has attractive purple, crimson, or darkpink inflorescences. Some literature sources indicate the possibility of white-colour flowers. However, there are no reliable published evidences of these cases. In this report, a record of S. viscaria plants with achromatic, white, flowers at the southern border of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve is presented. Some morphological traits of flowering individuals were measured: the height of reproductive individuals, the number of whorls of lateral branches per an inflorescence, the number of flowers per an inflorescence, the length of an inflorescence, and the percentage of an inflorescence length from a flowering plants height. Data on the flora accompanying S. viscaria are presented. As a result, no significant differences between plants with achromatic flowers and plants with coloured flowers have been found. However, the height of white-flower individuals was slightly higher. We suggest accumulating data on a phenomenon of the flower’s achromatism amongst different groups of plants in order to try to understand the frequency of this phenomenon and perhaps its impact on plants biology.