Silene noctiflora

Native to Asia and Europe. Introduced and naturalized in North America.

Railroads, disturbed sites. Partial shade.

July to September

White, often tinged pink

8″ to 32″

This is a 8″ to 32″ tall, erect, annual forb that rises from a slender taproot. When young the plant forms a basal rosette of leaves. Later it sends up flowering stems.

The stems are erect and branched on the upper part. They are densely hairy and are covered with sticky glandular hairs near the top. There are up to 10 pairs of leaves on the stem.

Basal leaves are broad, inversely lance-shaped with the attachment at the narrow end, 2⅓″ to 4¾″ long, less than ¾″ to 1¾″ wide, densely hairy, and on leaf stalks. Stem leaves are narrower and opposite, with up to 10 opposite pairs of leaves on the stem. They are lance-shaped to broadly elliptic, up to 4¾″ long and 1½″ wide, becoming progressively smaller as they ascend the stem. They taper gradually to a pointed tip with straight sides along the tip, and are attached to the stem without a leaf stalk. They are conspicuously veined and densely hairy on the upper and lower surfaces, the upper leaves covered with sticky, glandular hairs. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is open, loosely-branched cluster of 3 to 15 flowers. Each cluster is subtended by a pair of ⅜″ to 2″ long, leaf-like, narrowly lance-shaped bracts.

Flowers are ¾″ to 1″ wide when fully open on a stalk that is longer than the calyx. They have both male and female reproductive organs (perfect). They are fragrant. They open in the evening and are pollinated by moths.

The sepals are fused at the base into a tube (calyx) terminating in 5 short, erect lobes. The calyx is ⅔″ to 1⅛″ long and about ⅛″ wide when in flower, swelling to ⅜″ wide when in fruit. It is narrowed at both ends and constricted at the base. It has 10 major veins that are raised on the surface (prominent), forming ridges, with a network of veins between them.

The 5 petals are white, often tinged pink, and yellowish underneath. They are horizontally spreading. They have 2 deep, narrow lobes, and a stalk-like narrow base (claw). There are 10 stamens that are shorter than the petals and 3 styles, also shorter than the petals.

The fruit is a 3-chambered capsule the same size as or slightly longer than the calyx, with 6 teeth at the top that are bent backward.

White campion (Silene latifolia ssp. alba) has unisexual flowers with male and female flowers on separate plants. The flowers have just 5 or 6 styles. The fruit has 5 2-lobed teeth at the top that are upright, not bent backward.