Botanical name: Silene dioica
Folk names: Red riding hood, adder’s flower

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Nectar for moths, butterflies and and long-tongued Garden bumblebees. Caterpillar food for several moths including The Rivulet, Twin-spot Carpet, Marbled Clover, The Campion and The lychnis. Caterpillars of The Rivulet and The Campion live inside the seed pod and eat the seeds of female plants so be careful when collecting seeds! Caterpillars are also an important and helpful food source for birds, and hedgehogs if they can access your garden. Moths are vital food for bats.

Flowers: April to June and intermittently up to November.

Decorative merit: Rose-coloured flowers with a five-petalled shape, on downy stems 30-80cm high with opposite paired leaves. Male and female flowers on separate plants.

Where: Sun or part-shade. Middle or back of borders, mini meadows and wilder areas. Combines well with bluebells and cow parsley in a wilder patch.

Folklore: Flower of the fairy folk. Named after Silenus, the merry god of the woodlands in Greek mythology.

Carnation family relative of ragged robin and white campion.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank