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

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.

This species is also cultivated in Chinese gardens.

Gansu, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia].