Silene latifolia seed

LATIN NAME: Silene latifolia

COMMON NAME: White Campion, Evening Lychnis, White Cockle

White campion is a familiar and charming flower of the European wayside, and its white blooms glow softly in the evening light. It grows as an herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial, reaching forty to eighty centimetres, with softly hairy stems and leaves and, from late spring to autumn, loose clusters of white flowers, each with five notched petals and a swollen, bladder-like calyx. The flowers open in the evening and release a sweet scent, drawing night-flying moths, and the plant is a familiar and pretty member of the wayside flora of Europe.

White campion belongs to the carnation family, Caryophyllaceae, and it is native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. It is a dioecious plant, with separate male and female plants, and it has been introduced to many other regions, where it grows in fields and on disturbed ground, its white blooms opening in the evening and drawing the night-flying moths that pollinate them, a habit that has given it its other name, evening lychnis, and made it a familiar and gentle presence in the summer fields of Europe.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

White campion has a genuine and distinguished place in botanical research. It is a dioecious plant, with separate male and female individuals, and because of this it has been studied for a long time in research on plant sex determination and the genetics of sex, making it a classic subject in the study of plant reproduction and in the early history of genetics. The plant has also been studied in ecology, since it is a common and familiar member of the European flora and a weed of fields and disturbed ground, and researchers have examined its growth, its spread and its place in the landscape. The species has also been studied in plant systematics, since it is a member of the large and fascinating genus Silene. For a plant of such scientific importance, white campion has a rich and distinguished record of research.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Ecologically, white campion is a generous flower of the wayside. Its white, scented flowers feed night-flying moths and other pollinators, and its seeds feed small birds, while it brings soft, glowing bloom to the fields and roadsides of Europe.

Its economic value lies mainly in its scientific interest and its charm. It is a classic subject in plant science, valued in research on sex determination, and it is a pretty and easy plant for the wildflower garden, while it has also been used in traditional medicine. For a grower, white campion is an easy and interesting plant, and for a gardener it brings soft white bloom and a plant with a distinguished place in the history of science. The seeds are easy — scatter them in a sunny or partly shaded spot in spring, barely cover them, keep them lightly watered, and they’ll sprout within a couple of weeks, growing on into flowering plants by early summer.

Silene latifolia – White Campion, White Cockle, Evening Lychnis.

Silene latifolia is part of the large Silene genus, which has about 700 species worldwide; 70 in North America.

White Campion, which blooms in the summer and fall, was introduced into North America from its native Europe, and has spread across most of the United States except for a few southern states, and across Canada except for a few northern provinces since then.