Silene dioica (syn. Melandrium rubrum), Red campion, Red catchfly

Silene, the genus name, is a reference to the Greek woodland god Silenus the foster father of Bacchus, who was often depicted covered in a sticky foam and whose name in turn comes from the Greek word for saliva; the female flowers of Red Campion secrete a frothy foam that captures pollen from insects that come to the flowers to gather nectar. The specific epithet dioica means ‘two houses’, and signifies that separate plants bear the male and the female flowers.

Red Campion Facts

Plant Description

Red campion is a hairy, short-lived, herbaceous biennial or perennial flowering plant that normally grows up to 20 cm tall, and erect flowering stems are 30 – 90 cm tall. The plant is found growing in woods, hedgerows, ledges of cliffs, deciduous woodlands, woodland margins and clearings, gardens, yards, banks, riverbanks, open waste places, rocky slopes, stabilized screes, seashore, broad-leaved forests, coppices, wasteland, and fell precipices. The plant prefers fertile, well-drained, non-acid, base-rich, or calcareous soils. Stems are erect, simple or basally branched, 20–90 cm high.

Leaves

Leaves are 20–90 mm long and 3–45 mm wide. Basal leaves are long-petiolate, obovate-oblong and cauline leaves are oblong-elliptic, acute to acuminate, shortly petiolate to subsessile. The petiole is 0–30 mm long. Both the leaves and stems of the plant are hairy and slightly sticky. The upper leaves are stalkless.

Flowers

It is a biennial or perennial plant, with dark pink to red flowers, each 1.8-2.5 cm across. There are five petals which are deeply notched at the end, narrowed at the base and all go into an urn-shaped calyx. As indicated by the specific name, male and female flowers are borne on separate plants (dioecious), the male with 10 stamens and a 10-veined calyx, the female with 5 styles and a 20-veined calyx. The flowers are unscented. The flowering period is from May to October and the flowers are frequently visited by flies, like Rhingia campestris.

Fruit

The fruit, produced from July onwards, is a broadly ovoid to globose capsule 10–15 mm long containing numerous seeds, opening at the apex by 10 teeth which curve back. Seeds are dark-brown to black, broadly reniform, plump, 1–1.6 mm, densely and evenly papillate.

Some Facts

• The root is used as a soap substitute for washing clothes etc.
• The soap is obtained by simmering the root in hot water.
• In the Language of Flowers red campion symbolizes gentleness.

References