Click on images to enlarge
flower buds and upper leaves (Photo: Greg Jordan)
close-up of flower with deeply two-lobed petals (Photo: Greg Jordan)
Scientific Name
Silene nocturna L.
Family
Caryophyllaceae
Common Names
Mediterranean catchfly
Origin
Native to northern Africa, southern Europe, the middle-east and western Asia.
Naturalised Distribution
widely naturalised in southern and central Australia (i.e. in many parts of New South Wales, in Victoria and Tasmania, in many parts of South Australia, in the southern parts of the Northern Territory, and in the southern and western parts of Western Australia). It was also naturalised in the ACT, but has not been recorded there for many years.
Notes
Mediterranean catchfly (Silene nocturna) is regarded as an environmental weed in Western Australia and Victoria.