Low, waxy blue-green mat on a shingle beach, with white notched petals rising from a swollen, pink-veined papery bladder
Sea campion, Silene uniflora.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Sea campion
Native · flowers May–Sep · sea cliffs, shingle and rocky shores
Silene uniflora — Caryophyllaceae
Sea campion is a low, cushion-forming perennial of coastal cliffs, shingle beaches and rocky ground all around Britain, with white flowers held in a swollen, papery, pink-veined calyx. Its blue-green, slightly waxy leaves are a classic seaside adaptation against salt spray and wind. It is the salt-loving cousin of the inland bladder campion and carries some of the spookiest folk names in the flora.
How to spot them
- ▸A loose mat or cushion of waxy, blue-green, lance-shaped leaves, seldom more than 15–30 cm tall
- ▸Five white petals, each deeply notched, so that the flower looks as if it has ten
- ▸An inflated, bladder-like calyx, veined with pink or purple, that stays behind when the petals fall
- ▸Grows on cliff ledges, shingle and gravel right at the sea's edge, often with thrift
- ▸Look-alike: bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) has the same swollen calyx but is an upright, taller plant of inland grassland and verges; sea campion is a low, mat-forming plant of the coast
How to know it
Folk names for this coastal plant include 'dead man's bells', 'witches' thimbles' and 'Devil's hatties', and picking it was said to bring misfortune
Sea campion.
Its inland cousin has the same inflated calyx but is a taller, upright plant of grassland and road verges rather than of the coast
The cousin is bladder campion; this is sea campion, which forms low cushions by the sea.
The specific name means 'one-flowered', though the flower stems often carry a few blooms; the older Latin name was Silene maritima
Sea campion — uniflora = one-flowered.
Family Caryophyllaceae, the pink family, like carnations and chickweeds; the five white petals are each split down the middle
Sea campion, in the pinks.
Waxy, blue-green leaves and a tight cushion habit help this cliff plant cope with salt spray and drying wind
Sea campion — an adaptation to salt and wind.
Quick-fire facts
- •Native and common on most British coasts; also found on some inland mountain rock faces in the north and west
- •Flowers May to September according to the Wildlife Trusts (Plantlife gives June to August); height 15–30 cm
- •Silene uniflora was long known as Silene maritima, and the older name still turns up on plant labels
- •Folk names recorded by the Wildlife Trusts include dead man's bells, witches' thimbles and Devil's hatties, and local tradition warned that picking it brought bad luck
- •The swollen calyx and waxy leaves make it easy to tell from red and white campion, which are upright, hairy hedgerow and woodland-edge plants
- •Not legally protected and rated common; it is a familiar companion of thrift on cliffs and shingle
- •Family Caryophyllaceae, the pinks, which also includes the carnation, stitchworts and chickweeds
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Sea campion
- Plantlife — Plants to spot at the seaside this summer