Yashina et al. (1) reported successful regeneration of whole, fertile plants of Silene stenophylla Ledeb. from immature fruit tissue of Late Pleistocene age using in vitro tissue culture and clonal micropropagation. However, the plants in figures 2–4 in ref. 1 do not possess the diagnostic characters of S. stenophylla. The leaf morphology, inflorescence structure, floral morphology, indumentum, and seed characteristics instead all indicate that the plants belong to the Silene linnaeana Czerepanov (Lychnis sibirica L.) group. These taxa are only distantly related, sharing a most recent common ancestor many million years ago (e.g., 2, 3). Both taxa occur in rubble tundra in the area where the fossil fruit tissue was collected. S. stenophylla has a Far Eastern distribution, whereas the S. linnaeana group is widely distributed over Siberia (e.g., 4). By comparing morphological attributes as described in Floras available for the region (e.g., 4), one finds the following differences. The leaves of S. stenophylla are long and narrow and collected at the base, whereas those of the S. linnaeana group are narrowly lanceolate and occur on leafy stems. The inflorescence of S. stenophylla is a few-flowered thyrsoid, whereas the S. linnaeana group is characterized by a compound dichasium. The calyx of S. stenophylla is broad and inflated, whereas calyces in the S. linnaeana group are narrowly tubular to campanulate. Plants in the S. linnaeana group are pubescent, whereas S. stenophylla is glabrous, except on leaf margins of basal parts. In all these respects, the plants in figures 2 and 3 in ref. 1 are in agreement with the S. linnaeana group but not with S. stenophylla.