Silene latifolia (Silene alba) - White Campion - (Caryophyllaceae)

White Campion is less frequently encountered than Red Campion - Silene dioica - in Wales, where we live, but it is, nevertheless, widespread throughout the UK and Ireland. It is also present in the Algarve region of Portugal and in many other European countries.

White Campion

This creamy white member of the campion clan often grows on waste ground and roadside verges that are well drained. The flowers appear from May to September, being at their best in June and July. Unlike many wild flowers they remain open as dusk descends. You may occasionally find pale pink campion growing in areas where there are both red and white campion; these are simply hybrids of the two species.

Two other campions, Bladder Campion - Silene vulgaris - and Sea Campion, are sometimes mistakenly identified as white campion. Bladder campion has branched flower stems and greatly enlarged sepal tubes (seed pods), while Sea Campion - Silene uniflora is a short plant also with swolen sepal tubes but having unbranched flower stems each topped by a single bloom.

The plant on this page was photographed in West Wales in June.