Bladder Campion - Silene vulgaris

Description

Medium to tall, usually hairless, greyish plant with stout erect stems, all shoots flowering. Flowers white, fragrant, 16 to 18 mm, the petals deeply notched and not overlapping and with 3 styles. Calyx inflated and bladder-like and constricted at the mouth.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Grassy and waste places, preferring dry calcareous soils.

When to see it

May to September.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Widespread in most of Britain but sometimes local in distribution due to its preferred soil type. It seems to be scarce in the north of Scotland.

VC55 Status

Mainly found in the north east of Leicestershire and parts of Rutland where it can be fairly frequent, just a few records from railway verges elsewhere in VC55. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 58 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Bladder Campion
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Caryophyllales
Family:
Caryophyllaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
58
First record:
30/06/2011 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
28/06/2023 (lemmon, roy)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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