Silene Dioica

bio:species:silene_dioica

Silene dioica — red campion. Caryophyllaceae, order Caryophyllales. Characters: softly hairy throughout, the leaves opposite and set at slightly swollen nodes; flowers deep rose-pink, about 2 cm across, the five petals each so deeply notched at the tip that they read as ten; behind them a tubular calyx, inflated and net-veined; the species is DIOECIOUS, and the two sexes can be told apart at arm's length — a female flower shows five styles at the mouth of the tube and its calyx is the broader, a male shows ten stamens and a narrower calyx. Setting: hedgerows, woodland edges, shaded banks, and the ground under coppice, on soils that are not too acid. Range: Europe, east to western Siberia; introduced in North America. Naming: Silene is usually read as a reference to Silenus, foster-father of Dionysus, though the derivation is not settled; dioica names the same two households as the nettle, arrived at quite separately.