Silene is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Containing nearly 900 species, it is the largest genus in the family. Common names include campion and catchfly. Many Silene species are widely distributed, particularly in the northern hemisphere.
Silene armeria, commonly known as the Sweet William catchfly, is a species of plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. Originally a native of Europe, it has become widespread in the United States. Perennial in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 to 8. A small-growing form is known as dwarf catchfly. The name comes from the way in which small insects are trapped by the sticky sap exuded onto the stem. However it is not currently regarded as a carnivorous plant, though it has been identified as a carnivorous plant in the past.
Silene dioica, known as red campion and red catchfly, is a herbaceous flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native throughout central, western and northern Europe, and locally in southern Europe. It has been introduced in Iceland, Canada, the US, and Argentina.
Silene nutans is a flowering plant in the genus Silene, most commonly known as Nottingham catchfly.
Silene suecica is a species of plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. Its common name is red Alpine catchfly and its natural habitat is the mountains of Norway and Sweden but it is sometimes found near the coasts and it is also found in the Alps and the Pyrenees, Greenland and North America.
Silene bridgesii is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Bridges' catchfly. It is native to California, where it can be found throughout the Sierra Nevada and the southern reaches of the Cascade Range to the north, its distribution possibly extending into Oregon. It grows in mountain forests and woodlands. It is a perennial herb growing from a taproot and woody caudex unit, its stem decumbent or growing erect to half a meter or more in height. It is hairy, the upper hairs glandular, making the plant sticky in texture. The lower leaves are widely lance-shaped, up to 8 centimeters long by 1.5 wide. Upper leaves are smaller. Flowers occur in a terminal cyme at the top of the stem, as well as in some of the leaf axils, where they nod or hang like a bell. Each has a hairy, glandular calyx of fused sepals with ten veins. The calyx is open at the tip, revealing five white, pinkish, or greenish petals each with two rectangular lobes at the tip. The very long stamens and three styles protrude from the flower's center.
Silene campanulata is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names Red Mountain catchfly and bell catchfly. It may be a synonym of Silene greenei.
Silene douglasii is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Douglas's catchfly.
Silene gallica is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by several common names, including common catchfly, small-flowered catchfly, and windmill pink. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it can be found throughout much of the temperate world as a common roadside weed.
Silene lemmonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Lemmon's catchfly.
Silene noctiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names night-flowering catchfly, nightflowering silene and clammy cockle. It is native to Eurasia, but it is known on other continents as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. In North America, it is a common weed of grain crops in the Canadian prairie provinces and in much of the United States. It grows in fields and in other disturbed habitat.
Silene scouleri is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names simple campion and Scouler's catchfly.
Silene regia is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name royal catchfly. It is native to the central United States. A perennial herb, it grows from a fleshy taproot and has several erect stems growing up to 1.6 meters tall. The leaves are lance-shaped to oval and up to 12 centimeters long, becoming smaller farther up the stem. The inflorescence is an array of many flowers at the top of the stem. The elongate tubular calyx of sepals is up to 2.5 centimeters long and has 10 longitudinal veins. The lobes of the bright red corolla are 1 to 2 centimeters long.
Silene clokeyi, known as Clokey's catchfly, is a species of flowering plant in the pink family. It is native to western North America.
Protea pendula, also known as the nodding sugarbush or arid sugarbush, is a flowering plant of the genus Protea, in the family Proteaceae, which is only found growing in the wild in the Cape Region of South Africa. In the Afrikaans language it is known as knikkopsuikerbossie or ondersteboknopprotea.
Silene otites, called Spanish catchfly, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Silene, native to Europe and the Transcaucasus area, and introduced to Xinjiang in China. It varies its floral odors to attract mosquitoes and moths at night and flies and bees by day. It is dioecious, with separate male and female plants.
Silene tatarica, called the Tartarian catchfly, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Silene, found in north-central Europe and western Asia, from Germany and Norway eastwards to western Siberia and Kazakhstan. A specialist of riparian habitats, its seeds are dispersed by water.
Silene uralensis, known by the common name apetelous catchfly or nodding campion, is a perennial plant found in Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska, East Asia, and Siberia.
Silene paradoxa, the Dover catchfly, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to southeastern France, Corsica, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Albania, and Greece. It can grow on serpentine soils and copper mine tailings.
