STARRY CAMPION
(Silene stellata) Pink family
Flowers - White, about 1/2 in. broad or over, loosely clustered
in a showy, pyramidal panicle. Calyx bell-shaped, swollen,
5-toothed, sticky; 5 fringed and clawed petals; 10 long, exserted
stamens; 3 styles. Stem: Erect, leafy, 2 to 3 1/2 ft. tall,
rough-hairy. Leaves: Oval, tapering to a point, 2 to 4 in. long,
seated in whorls of 4 around stem, or loose ones opposite.
Preferred Habitat - Woods, shady banks.
Flowering Season - June-August.
Distribution - Rhode Island westward to Mississippi, south to the
Carolinas and Arkansas.
Feathery white panicles of the starry campion, whose protruding
stamens and fringed petals give it a certain fleeciness, are
dainty enough for spring; by midsummer we expect plants of ranker
growth and more gaudy flowers. To save the nectar in each deep
tube for the moths and butterflies which cross-fertilize all this
tribe of night and day blossoms, most of them - and the campions
are notorious examples - spread their calices, and some their
pedicels as well, with a sticky substance to entrap little
crawling pilferers.
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