Caryophylloideae

Silene L. with its about 600-700 species is one of the larger genera of the World's flora (Greuter 1995). The genus is widespread and most diverse in the Mediterranean and the Middle East and several of its species are cultivated as ornamentals.

Silene is part of a complex of related genera including Silene, Lychnis and Melandrium, but the exact circumscription of the genera has been controversial: Molecular data established from the mid to end of the 90's suggested a single genus encompassing all three genera (Desfeux and Lejeune 1996; Oxelman and Lidén 1995; Oxelman et al. 1997). Based on molecular data (combined data set - rps16 intron, ITS) Lidén et al. (2001) recently divided the "Silene complex" into six genera: Eudianthe, Viscaria, Heliosperma, Atocion, Lychnis, and Silene.

Silene italica	S. schafta	S. armeria	S. coeli-rosa

Closely related genera are Agrostemma, Dianthus, Saponaria, and Vaccaria. The genus Dianthus L. comprises about 300 species with a worldwide distribution but centered in the Mediterranean region; some species are cultivated as ornamentals (e.g., D. caryophyllus L., D. chinensis L.). The genus Saponaria L. comprises about 40 species in temperate Eurasia, chiefly in the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanean region (Bittrich 1993). The genus Agrostemma L. is situated in temperate Eurasia with two species. The genus Vaccaria Wolf is situated in Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, and temperate Asia with four species (Bittrich 1993).

Agrostemma githago	Dianthus armeria	Vacc. hispanica	Saponaria officinalis

Bittrich V (1993) Caryophyllaceae. In: Kubitzki K, Rohwer JG, Bittrich V. (eds.) Families and genera of flowering plants,, Vol. II, Flowering Plants, Dicotyledons. Springer, Berlin, pp. 206-236

Desfeux C, Lejeune B (1996) Systematics of Euromediterranean Silene (Caryophyllaceae): evidence from a phylogenetic analysis using ITS sequences. C R Acad Sci Paris 319:351-358

Greuter W (1995) Silene (Caryophyllaceae) in Greece: a subgeneric and sectional classification. Taxon 44:543-581

Lidén M, Popp M, Oxelman B. 2001. A revised generic classification of the tribe Sileneae (Caryophyllaceae). Nordic Journal of Botany 20: 513-518.

Oxelman B, Lidén M (1995) Generic boundaries in the tribe Sileneae (Caryophyllaceae) as inferred from nuclear rDNA sequences. Taxon 44:525-542

Oxelman B, Lidén M, Berglund D (1997) Chloroplast rps16 intron phylogeny of the tribe Sileneae (Caryophyllaceae). Plant Syst Evol 206:393-410

_{Andreas Jürgens}