Click on images to enlarge
infestation (Photo: Trevor James)
habit (Photo: Trevor James)
lower leaves (Photo: Trevor James)
stem and upper leaves (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of upper leaf (Photo: Trevor James)
whitish or pale pink flowers of Silene gallica var. gallica (Photo: Trevor James)
pink flowers of Silene gallica var. gallica from side-on showing the hairy sepals (Photo: Trevor James)
close-up of the pink flowers of Silene gallica var. gallica (Photo: Trevor James)
Silene gallica var. quinquevulnera flowers (Photo: Trevor James)
close-up of Silene gallica var. quinquevulnera flower showing the reddish blotches on its petals (Photo: Greg Jordan)
immature fruit enclosed in sepals (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
mature fruit (Photo: Trevor James)
close-up of mature fruit (Photo: Trevor James)
close-up of seeds (Photo: Carole Ritchie at USDA PLANTS Database)
seedling (Photo: Trevor James)
young plant (Photo: Trevor James)
Scientific Name
Silene gallica L.
Synonyms
Silene anglica L.Silene gallica L. var. gallicaSilene gallica L. var. quinquevulnera (L.) KochSilene quinquevulnera L.
Family
Caryophyllaceae
Common Names
common catchfly, English catchfly, French catchfly, French silene, gunpowder weed, Mediterranean catchfly, small catchfly, small-flower catchfly, small-flowered catchfly, smallflowered catchfly, spotted catchfly, windmill pink
Origin
Native to northern Africa, the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands, Europe, the middle-east, western Asia and the Indian Sub-continent.
Naturalised Distribution
Widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, in many parts of South Australia and in the southern and western parts of Western Australia). It is also naturalised on Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
Widely naturalised in other parts of the world, including North America (i.e. Canada and the USA).
Notes
French catchfly (Silene gallica) is regarded as an environmental weed in Western Australia and Victoria.
Note: Two forms of this species are present in Australia (i.e. Silene gallica var. gallica and Silene gallica var. quinquevulnera), which can be distinguished from each other by differences in flower colour. Silene gallica var. gallica has white or pink flowers, while Silene gallica var. quinquevulnera has flowers with dark red blotches their petals.
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