Silene dioica

Plant Characteristics

Habit		herbaceous
Height:	⇕	24 in"in" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 24.
Width:	⇔	12 in"in" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 12.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Bloom:	❀	early summer, mid summer, late summer

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun, part-sun
Features:	✓	flowers
USDA Zones:		6 to 10
Flower features:	❀	red, pink

Scientific Names

Caryophyllaceae >

Silene >

dioica >

Red campion (Silene dioica, syn. Melandrium rubrum) is a flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native throughout central, western and northern Europe, and locally in southern Europe.

It is a herbaceous biennial or perennial plant, with dark pink to red flowers, each 1.8-2.5 cm across. The flowers are unscented. There are five petals which are deeply notched at the end, narrowed at the base and all go into an urn-shaped calyx. It flowers from May to October. The plant grows to 30-90 cm, with branching stems. The deep green leaves are in opposite pairs, simple acute ovate, 3-8 cm long with an untoothed margin; both the leaves and stems of the plant are hairy and slightly sticky. The upper leaves are stalkless. Male and female flowers are born on separate plants, the male with 10 stamens and a 10-veined calyx, the female with 5 styles and a 20-veined calyx. The fruit, produced from July onwards, is an ovoid capsule containing numerous seeds, opening at the apex by 10 teeth which curve back.

Red campion grows in roadsides, woodlands,and rocky slopes. It prefers to grow on damp, non-acid soils [1].

Plants with paler pink flowers are hybrids with the closely related White Campion (S. latifolia); these are common in some areas.

Read about Silene dioica in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Lychnis dioica, Linn. (L. diurna, Sibth.). Red or Morning Campion. Coarse, hairy and usually somewhat viscid, 1-2 ft. tall, forking above: lvs. ovate-lanceolate or oblong, the cauline ones broad- based or clasping: fls. normally red (varying to pink and white), in loose, elongating or forking clusters (or at first single on the ends of the branches), opening in the morning, not fragrant, more or less dioecious; calyx oblong, reddish, not exceeding ½in. length: fr. or caps, large and globose, wide-mouthed, the teeth recurved. Eu. and Asia.—Frequent in old gardens, and also run wild in waste grounds in the eastern states. There are double-fld. forms. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Gallery

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