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Evening campion is an exotic from Europe that grows to be 2-3' tall. It is nominally a night-blooming species, but I've observed it in bloom throughout the day in shady areas. Male and female plants are separate. The upper stems end in clusters of one or more 1-1.5" long flowers. The "bladder" (the calyx) is covered with a fuzz of fine hairs and has dark green or reddish-purple lines running from pole to pole (10 lines in male flowers, 20 in female). The five petals are heart shaped (with the point towards the center of the flower) and are deeply cleft into two lobes; the petals form a fringe that makes a distinct collar around the opening to the floral tube. Female flowers have five emergent styles (rarely four or six); male flowers have 10 yellow stamens that barely emerge from the collar at the center of the flower. (Other local Silene sp. have three styles.) The fruit is brown, urn-shaped, and has 10 small teeth on the distal end (or five pairs if you prefer). (Five or six teeth total in S. noctiflora, S. stellata, and S. vulgaris.) Evening campion evolved a dioecious life history (separate male and female plants) about 11 million years ago. (Other species in the genus have "perfect" flowers with both male and female organs present and functional in the flowers.) The evolution and genomic history of the sex-determining Y chromosome (XX = female, XY = male) has been of considerable interest for the light it shines on the evolution of Y chromosomes in both plants and animals (Moraga et al. 2025. Science 387:630–636; Akagi et al. 2025. Science 387:637–643).

Silene

Silene latifolia

evening campion [Blooms: May-Aug]

Starry campion's main stem ends in a panicle of flowers up to 8" long and 3-4" across; additional panicles may arise on the lateral stems on robust plants. Flowers occur in groups of 2-3 on the ends of long, slender branches; the flowers rest directly on short (1/4") pedicels. Individual flowers are 3/4" across. Each flower consists of a bell shaped, light green, fuzzy calyx nearly as broad as it is long with five broad, triangular teeth on its free end; five white petals with a narrow base and a "fringe" of 8-12 narrow lobes on their free ends; 10 stamens with slender white filaments that extend well outside the throat; and three white styles. The styles emerge from a large, green, globular ovary in the middle of the flower. After fertilization, the calyx gets broader (nearly triangular in profile) as the ovary expands into a spherical green ball; the fruit is brown, urn-shaped, and has six teeth on the distal end. The flowers tend to close in bright midday light. They are usually pollinated by moths and, to a lesser extent, bumblebees.

Silene

Silene stellata

starry campion [Blooms: Jun-Jul]