Niawathe Prairie Conservation Area is located in Dade County, and covers 320 acres. A portion of this area has been designated as a Natural Area.
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Scientific Name
Silene regia
Family
Caryophyllaceae (pinks, carnations)
Description
Royal catchfly is a spectacular plant of the tallgrass prairie. It is threatened by habitat destruction and degradation throughout its range. Missouri has most of the world's populations of this noble plant.
Habit: These are erect, unbranched perennial plants topped with open clusters of bright red flowers.
The flowers have 5 bright red petals, each entire or finely toothed at the tip but rarely notched and never lobed; each petal has a pair of small appendages on the upper surface at the base of the expanded portion.
Blooms May–October.
The stems have short, stiff, down-pointed hairs at the base, and stalked glands toward the top. Basal leaves usually withered away by flowering time. The stem leaves are opposite, sessile (stalkless), ovate to lanceolate, tapered, rounded or heart-shaped at the base, the surfaces more or less roughened and hairy or smooth.
Similar species: Fourteen species in genus Silene have been recorded growing in Missouri habitats.
- The one most similar is fire pink (S. virginica), because it, too, has bright red flowers. However, it is a shorter plant (blooming at 8 to a maximum of 27 inches), blooms earlier (April–June), has thinner leaves, and has distinctly notched petals (which have a forked, or two-lobed look). Also, it is usually found in bottomland forests, streambanks, bases of bluffs, shaded roadsides, and other places with fairly moist soils.
- Missouri's other Silene species bloom pink, white, or pinkish-tinged. Some common examples include starry campion (S. stellata) and sleepy catchfly (S. antirrhina).
Size
Height: 2 to 4 feet.
Where To Find
Scattered in the Ozark and Ozark Border natural divisions; uncommon along the southern edge of the Unglaciated Plains. Can be cultivated statewide.
Habitat and Conservation
Upland prairies, glades, tops of bluffs, savannas, rocky openings of forests, fencerows, railroads, and roadsides.
A spectacular plant of the tallgrass prairie, with its many bright red flowers crowning stems that can be at least 4 feet tall. Royal catchfly is threatened by habitat destruction and degradation throughout its range. Missouri has most of the world's populations of this plant, but many of these are along roads and other degraded habitats.
Botanists conduct surveys of known populations of uncommon or rare plants, and they have noted that several Missouri locations that had royal catchfly in the early 1980s now no longer have them.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
This is a great plant for native gardening. It blooms during some of the hottest parts of the summer and into the fall. It needs well-drained, sandy or gravelly soil. It is easily propagated by seeds and is also available for sale at most native plant nurseries in the state. Please don’t dig them from the wild.
This and several other plants in the genus are called "catchflies" because the stems and foliage typically are sticky: sticky enough for gnats, mosquitoes, and other small flies to become adhered to the plant.
Ecosystem Connections
Butterflies, including some swallowtail species, and hummingbirds are attracted to the nectar of these bright red flowers. The rather deep tubular portion of the flower favors pollinators with long tongues. Hummingbirds are a primary pollinator of royal catchfly.
Royal catchfly is a prairie species that needs sunny grasslands to live. Because native prairie has been mostly obliterated, the habitat for royal catchfly has been shrinking. This species has been nearly extirpated from Kansas and Tennessee. Much of America's native prairie has been destroyed by plowing and agriculture. But prairie habitats also shrink and disappear when natural fires are suppressed, and trees, and eventually woodlands, take over. Royal catchfly, and many, many other prairie species, cannot live in the woods.
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Media Gallery
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Caption
Royal Catchfly (Silene regia) blooming in prairie planting at MDC headquarters, July 16, 2021.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Royal Catchfly (Silene regia) blooming in prairie planting at MDC headquarters, July 16, 2021.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Royal Catchfly (Silene regia) is one of only a handful of truly bright red wildflowers in Missouri.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
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Credit
Noppadol Paothong
Right to Use
Photo by Noppadol Paothong, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Caption
Royal catchfly's stem leaves are opposite, sessile, ovate to lanceolate, tapered, and rounded or heart-shaped at the base.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
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Credit
Jim Rathert
Right to Use
Photo by Jim Rathert, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
Image
Credit
Jim Rathert
Right to Use
Photo by Jim Rathert, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
Image
Credit
Jim Rathert
Right to Use
Photo by Jim Rathert, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Similar Species
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Where to See Species
Davisdale Conservation Area is in Howard County, 15 miles west of Columbia and seven miles east of Boonville on Highway 40.
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!