Botanical name: Silene latifolia
Folk names: White catchfly

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Moths will take nectar from its scented flowers in the evening. Caterpillar plant for The Campion and The Rivulet moths: caterpillars live inside the seed pod and eat the seeds of female plants, so take care when collecting seeds!

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