Zone 5b, Indiana.
Begins blooming here first week of May, and has a long flowering period (it's still blooming now).
Bloom size: approx. 1"
Plant height: approx. 1.5 to 2'.
Grows upright, but is fairly weak-stemmed. It can flop in shadier areas.










I should know this plant, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

It's a catchfly (Silene) of some type, but I don't know them well enough to say which species.

I think it is Silene latifolia.
Evening Campion (Silene latifolia)

This one seems very familiar, haven't we had one like it before?

Silene latifolia ssp. alba looks a good match ..

http://www.pnwflowers.com/flow...

http://www.pnwflowers.com/flow...

http://plants.usda.gov/java/na...

It's accepted in the plant list ..

http://www.theplantlist.org/tp...

Ah, thanks!

I believe that this one is Night-flowering Catchfly, (Silene noctiflora). The styles are different, and ( I forgot to mention this ) these blooms are closed during most of the day.

Janet, it looks like there was a similar one here The thread "My wrong entry" in Plant ID forum , but I believe Cinda's plant is Silene latifolia. It clearly shows the 5 long, curly styles.

I see after reading the other thread in its entirety that Cinda's plant was identified. I should have read it first.

Don't forget there are male and female flowers chelle, they are described on the PNW site.

Okay. Thanks, Janet.

I'll check those against the flowers of my plant.

I haven't added it to the DB yet, just in case.

This is some of the information I was basing the ID on...

http://ontariowildflowers.com/...

(Click on the related links)


It seems fairly informative, yes, no??

Silene latifolia ssp. alba ..

Flowers erect on short stalks or sessile, open in afternoon.
Male flowers with 10 stamens and female flowers with 5 styles are on separate plants

Silene noctiflora ..

three styles in flowers; plant is sticky all over.
(Silene latifolia) - Very similar. Flowers have five styles; plant not sticky.

How many styles does it have, but if you only have the one plant then you have a problem if it is a male flower which are on separate plants but one of your photos is showing something in the middle.

I assume they mean Silene latifolia is the same as ssp alba, but if not both are probably similar. The test now is, is the plant sticky? The ballon behind the flower often varies in colour.

There is a description of Silene noctiflora on a wild seed site here which I trust, the flowers on noctiflora are much more deeply cut and flowers white or pink.

http://wildseed.co.uk/species/...

All right. Here it is.

My plant is not sticky (at 5:00 in the evening) anywhere but inside the (still) closed petals. I watched a bee fight to free itself while I was testing the plant! Cool!

I tested stem hairs and leaves, and I even pulled a piece of leaf stalk off and squished it in my fingers. No stickiness until I pressed the opening of the petal grouping.

So...I'll enter it as latifolia ssp. alba, right?

Thanks, again.

Sounds good to me!