Silene songarica (Fisch., Mey. & Avé-Lall.) Bocquet

Herbs perennial, 15--60 cm tall, densely pubescent throughout. Principal root slender, slightly lignified. Stems caespitose, erect, simple. Basal leaves narrowly lanceolate, 3--9 cm × 3--10 mm, ciliate, base attenuate into petiole, apex acuminate; cauline leaves 3--5 pairs, sessile, linear-lanceolate. Inflorescence 2--6-flowered, rarely more; flowers nutant in early anthesis, soon becoming erect. Pedicel (2--)5--15 mm; bracts linear-lanceolate, herbaceous. Calyx narrowly campanulate, 1.2--1.5 cm × 5--7 mm, densely pubescent, sparsely glandular hairy; longitudinal veins dark green, not cohering at apex; calyx teeth triangular, margin membranous, white, ciliate, apex acute. Androgynophore ca. 1 mm, shortly pubescent. Petals white or pale red, subequaling or longer than calyx, 1.1--1.3 cm; claws oblanceolate, auricles orbicular; limbs obovate, shallowly bifid, with or without a couple of lateral teeth; coronal scales small. Stamens included; filaments glabrous. Styles included. Capsule ellipsoid-ovoid, 1--1.2 cm, shorter than calyx. Seeds dark brown, reniform, 0.8--1 mm, tuberculate. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug.

Jilin, Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].

Gravelly scrub grasslands, alpine meadows; 2000--4700 m.

Melandrium songaricum Fischer, C. A. Meyer & Avé-Lallemant, Index Sem. Hort. Petrop. Suppl. 9: 14. 1844; Lychnis brachypetala Fischer ex Hornemann; L. mongolica Maximowicz; ?Melandrium auritipetalum Y. Z. Zhao & P. Ma; M. baicalense Sukaczev ex Tolmatchew; M. brachypetalum (Fischer ex Hornemann) Fenzl; M. irikutense Kitagawa; M. mongolicum (Maximowicz) Grubov; Silene duthiei Majumdar.