Red Campion

Red Campion flowers from very early March in the Cemetery, its petals a mere suggestion of pink atop the hairy flower pod.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Silene dioica
Family: 
Pinks
Family Latin name: 
CARYOPHYLLACEAE
Category: 
Flowering Plants
Vernacular names: 

Adder's flower, Robin Hood, Cuckoo flower

Species description

Species description

Our native red campion begins flowering in March, but leave well alone, for 'If you pick red campion your father will die and if you pick white campion your mother will die', says an old folk adage.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

The plants of this family are mainly found in temperate regions, the best known members being pinks and carnations.

Category information

Nucleic multicellular photosynthetic organisms lived in freshwater communities on land as long ago as a thousand million years, and their terrestrial descendants are known from the late Pre-Cambrian 850 million years ago. Embryophyte land plants are known from the mid Ordovician, and land plant structures such as roots and leaves are recognisable in mid Devonian fossils. Seeds seem to have evolved by the late Devonian. The Embryophytes are green land plants that form the bulk of the Earth’s vegetation. They have specialised reproductive organs and nurture the young embryo sporophyte. Most obtain their energy by photosynthesis, using sunlight to synthesise food from Carbon Dioxide and Water.

The earliest known plant group is the Archaeplastida, which were autotrophic. Listing just the surviving descendants, which evolved in turn, we have the Red Algae, the Chlorophyte Green Algae, the Charophyte Green Algae, and then the Embryophyta or land plants. The earliest embryophytes were the Liverworts, followed by the Hornworts, and the Mosses. Then we have the Vascular Plants, the Lycophytes and Ferns, followed by the Spermatophytes or seed plants, the Gnetophytes, Conifers, Ginkgos, and Cycads, and finally the Magnoliophyta (Angiosperms) or flowering plants.