Starry campion, a perennial wildflower, is a member of the pink or carnation family. Its deeply fringed, white petals give it a starry appearance. The leaves are in whorls of 4 on the stem. It blooms from June to September in dry, wooded uplands and slopes.
Habit: a perennial wildflower with several stiff stems having short, soft hairs.
Flowers arise in a loose panicle. Each is subtended by a pair of small, leaflike bracts, with a cup-shaped calyx from which 5 white, finely fringed petals protrude. The stamens are long and slender.
Blooms June–September.
The leaves are mostly in whorls of 4, lanceolate to oval-lanceolate, sessile (stalkless), opposite, to 3 inches long.
Similar species: Fourteen species in genus Silene have been recorded growing in Missouri habitats. Most have white, pink, or pinkish-tinged flowers. Several are introduced species you are not likely to see. Others are more common:
- Sleepy catchfly (S. antirrhina) occurs statewide and has white or purplish-tinged flowers. A highly variable, annual plant whose inflated, football-shaped calyxes (conjoined sepals at the base of the flower) are probably more noticeable than the petals. Sticky patches on the calyx and stems often capture flies and other insects.
- Wild pink or Wherry's pink (S. caroliniana) is uncommon, growing mainly in the Central Ozarks. A perennial, its flowers are pink; the leaves are mostly basal. A candidate for "most beautiful native wildflower of the Ozarks," it is available from native plant nurseries in Missouri.
- White campion, also called evening campion and white cockle (S. latifolia), was introduced to America from Eurasia; it is scattered nearly statewide, occurring mostly on roadsides, pastures, and other disturbed habitats. Its flowers are white, open at night, are either staminate or pistillate (that is, a plant bears either all male flowers or all female flowers, but not both).
- Snowy campion (S. nivea) is uncommon, sporadic, mainly in the eastern half of the state. A perennial, its flowers are white. It can be confused with other white-flowered campions. Examine sepal tube characters, flower bracts, and surface texture of stems and foliage to distinguish among them.
- Fire pink (S. virginica) and royal catchfly (S. regia) both have bright red flowers.
Height: usually 2½ feet.
Scattered nearly throughout the state.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs on dry, wooded uplands and slopes, bottomland forests, savannas, bottomland prairies, banks of streams and rivers, margins of ponds and lakes; also fencerows, railroads, and roadsides.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
With its unusual petals and interesting whorled leaves, this native wildflower should be considered for the home garden. It is in the same family as carnations and pinks.
Native Americans made a poultice from the roots for treating sores.
Ecosystem Connections
Moths are the major pollinators and are attracted by the flowers’ nectar. The flowers open fully at nighttime and usually close at midday.
Flowers in genus Silene are the host plants for a moth called the campion coronet, also called the starry campion moth (Hadena ectypa). As a caterpillar, this noctuid moth (a.k.a. owlet, cutworm, or dart moth) feeds on these plants, but in the adult stage, it pollinates their flowers. In Missouri, the campion coronet is a species of conservation concern, ranked as critically imperiled.
A closely related moth, the capsule moth (Hadena capsularis), also uses pink-family plants as its caterpillar food plant. Like the campion coronet, the caterpillars mainly eat the flowers and developing fruits, and the adult wings are ornately patterned, drab gray or brown, and clearly bark-camouflaged.
Not many mammals browse the foliage due to bad-tasting, somewhat toxic chemicals in the plant’s tissues.
