White Campion, White Cockle

Silene latifolia Poir. ssp. alba (Mill.) Greuter & Burdet
 

[formerly Silene alba (Mill.) Krause and Lychnis alba Mill.]

Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family)

▲▼ new growth in spring

▲▼ mature, flowering plants

▲▼ flowers

▲▼ flowers

▲▼ flowers

White Campion, White Cockle: 

·         Eurasian native, short-lived perennial weed that grows 8-24 inches tall, with mostly  unbranched stems (until flowering starts)

·         Often produces a semi-rosette of opposite, oval, dark green softly-hairy leaves with pointed tips and no petioles

·         At flowering, stem elongates, with longer internodes and slightly smaller leaves

·         Flowers are at the ends of branched stem tips, and  are white, five-petalled, with notched petals and below the petals is an inflated, football-shaped calyx that has 20 visible veins; male and female flowers are on separate plants; male flowers are smaller than female flowers

·         Is becoming more common in reduced-tillage crops in Midwest

·         May be toxic if grazed heavily due to saponins in plant, seeds

·         Similar species Night-Flowering Catchfly (also native to Europe) has smaller flowers, with 10 veins per flower and sticky hairs on leaves, stems and flowers; it is more common as a row-crop weed in the northern midwest

·         Similar species Bladder Campion (also native to Europe) has smooth stems and flower sepals, and flower bases appear more inflated; leaves and flowers are smaller, too