Silene dioica

Silene dioica subsp. var.	Red campion
	Habit: herbaceous Height: ⇕ to Width: ⇔ to 24in 12in Height: ⇕ warning.png"" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. to 24 in Width: ⇔ warning.png"" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. to 12 in Lifespan: ⌛ perennial Origin: ✈ Poisonous: ☠ Bloom: ❀ early summer, mid summer, late summer	Exposure: ☼ sun, part-sun Water: ◍ Features: ✓ flowers Hidden fields, interally pass variables to right place Minimum Temp: ☃ °Fwarning.png"°F" is not a number. USDA Zones: 6 to 10 Sunset Zones: Flower features: ❀ red, pink
	Caryophyllaceae > Silene dioica var. ,

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.

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.

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External links

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