Silene
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Silene latifolia (White Campion)
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
About 300 species, including: |
Silene is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Common names include campion (shared with the related genus Lychnis) and catchfly.
Red Campion (S. dioica) and White Campion (S. latifolia) are common wildflowers throughout Europe and elsewhere. They readily hybridise to produce plants with paler pink flowers. The Moss campion is common in the high arctic.
Silene species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Silene.
Silene undulata (syn. Silene capensis) is used by the Xhosa tribe in Africe as an oneirogenic agent. Reputedly, a small amount of the root bark of this species is pulverised with water to produce a white froth. This froth is then sucked off and swallowed. The user's dreams for the following several nights are said to be more vivid and memorable than usual, although no effects are felt while awake. Some ethnobotanical websites sell silene specimens as "African Dreaming Root" or "Xhosa Dream Herb" or similar.
[edit] References
- PINK, A. Gardening for the Million.
[edit] External links
- Evolution of Sex Chromosomes: The Case of the White Campion. PLoS Biol 3(1): e28.
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Silene
 Red Campion, Silene dioica |
 A hybrid campion S. dioica × S. latifolia |
 Sea campion, Silene maritima |
 |
This Caryophyllales article is a stub. Please help Wikipedia grow by expanding it. |
