Flora of New Zealand Series

rose campion

Whole plant densely covered in long woolly silvery hairs. Flowering stems erect, 30-100 cm tall. Basal and lower stem lvs loosely tufted, oblanceolate, acute, 10-25 × (1.5)-2-4 cm, gradually tapering to long petiole; upper lvs ovate, acute, sessile, amplexicaul, becoming smaller above. Infl. a (3)-7-15-flowered dichasium; pedicels (3)-5-12 cm long; bracts ovate-acuminate, 1-4 cm long. Calyx bell-shaped, 15-20 mm long, 10-veined; teeth triangular, acute. Petals purplish pink, rarely white; claw c. = calyx; limb spreading, entire or shallowly emarginate, 1-1.5 cm long. Capsule narrowly ovoid; carpophore c. 2 mm long. Seeds dull grey-brown, reniform-oblong, warty, c. 1.2 mm long.

N.: North Cape, Bay of Plenty, Wellington City; S.: Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago.

S.E. and C. Europe, N.W. Africa, Asia Minor 1878

Dry roadsides, banks, grassland, railway embankments.

Woolly silvery hairs distinguish rose campion from other Lychnis and Silene spp. in N.Z. Rose campion is often cultivated and persists in old gardens and graveyards.