Silene gallica is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by several common names, including common catchfly, small-flowered catchfly, and windmill pink. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it can be found throughout much of the temperate world as a common roadside weed.
Silene gallica is an erect or semi-erect annual herb growing up to 50 cm (20 in) tall, its branching stem clad in long, curling hairs and shorter, glandular hairs. The opposite, entire, lance-shaped leaves have acute apexes, are up to 3.5 cm (1.4 in) long on the lower parts of the plant, and smaller on the upper parts.
The flowers grow in a terminal inflorescence at the top of the stem, and some appear in the leaf axils. Each flower has a tubular calyx of fused sepals lined with ten green or purple-red veins.
The calyx is coated in long, sometimes glandular, hairs and becomes inflated in fruit. There are five white, pink or bicolored, spatulate petals, each with a small appendage at the base. There are ten stamens and three styles. The fruit is a brown, ovoid capsule with six apical teeth.
This plant is useful.
This plant might be poisonous
How to get rid of:
