Botanical name: Silene latifolia
Folk names: White catchfly

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Moths will take nectar from its scented flowers in the evening. Food plant for rivulet and campion moth caterpillars which will nestle down in the seedpod so be careful when collecting the seeds! Caterpillars are an important and helpful food source for birds, and hedgehogs if they can access your garden. Moths are vital food for bats. Aphids may be attracted to the flower, not harming the plant but helping ladybirds.

Flowers: May to June and may flower again in early autumn.

Decorative merit: Five-petalled white flowers, on slender, downy stems up to 80cm high. Rosette of pointed oval leaves that are hairy and sticky to the touch. Forms a large clump in a lightly shaded border. Male and female flowers on separate plants. Faintly scented at night. Makes a delicately lovely cut flower in a vase with sweet rocket and then sweet peas. Combines well with devilsbit scabious if flowering again in early autumn.

Where: Sun or part-shade. Borders close to where you sit in the evening and shady corners which its flowers can help brighten.  Tolerates most soils including moisture-retentive.

Folklore: Thought to be an ingredient in 16th century Elizabethan potpourri.

Carnation family relative of ragged robin and red campion.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank