White Campion

White Campion, White Cockle

Silene latifolia Poir. ssp. alba (Mill.) Greuter & Burdet

[formerly Silene alba (Mill.) Krause and Lychnis alba Mill.]

Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family)

▲ ▼ new growth in spring

▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants

▲ ▼ flowers

White Campion, White Cockle:

Eurasian native, short-lived perennial weed that grows 8-24 inches tall, with mostly unbranched stems (until flowering starts)
Often produces a semi-rosette of opposite, oval, dark green softly-hairy leaves with pointed tips and no petioles
At flowering, stem elongates, with longer internodes and slightly smaller leaves
Flowers are at the ends of branched stem tips, and are white, five-petalled, with notched petals and below the petals is an inflated, football-shaped calyx that has 20 visible veins; male and female flowers are on separate plants; male flowers are smaller than female flowers
Is becoming more common in reduced-tillage crops in Midwest
May be toxic if grazed heavily due to saponins in plant, seeds
Similar species Night-Flowering Catchfly (also native to Europe) has smaller flowers, with 10 veins per flower and sticky hairs on leaves, stems and flowers; it is more common as a row-crop weed in the northern midwest
Similar species Bladder Campion (also native to Europe) has smooth stems and flower sepals, and flower bases appear more inflated; leaves and flowers are smaller, too