Florapass
English
Bladder Campion

Bladder Campion

Silene vulgaris

Identify the Bladder Campion from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

How common: Common

Bladder Campion is a perennial wildflower recognized by its white, drooping flowers with a swollen, net‑veined “bladder” behind the petals. It grows in open, often dry or sandy places such as meadows, field margins, roadsides and coastal shores. Native across much of Europe and western Asia, it has spread to other continents with people.

Did you know?

  • The balloon‑like part of the flower can pop if you squeeze it gently.
  • The flowers often smell sweet in the evening and attract night‑flying insects.

About the species

Identification

Upright, smooth, blue‑green plant 20–80 cm tall, often with many stems. Leaves are smooth, narrow to oval, growing in pairs on the stem (one on each side). The flower cluster is loose; each white flower droops. Behind the petals is a pale, pinkish, net‑veined, swollen tube like a tiny bladder. Petals are deeply notched. After flowering it makes a small dry pod about 8–9 mm. Differs from sea campion, which often has single flowers and thicker, fleshier leaves. Flowers in Finland from June to August.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

meadow, shore

Flowering

Jun–Aug

About the habitat

Open, sunny ground on dry to moderately moist soils: meadows, pastures, field edges, roadsides and waste ground; also sandy, gravelly or rocky seashores and cracks in coastal rocks. Common across most of the country; scarce in northern Lapland and along the Ostrobothnian coast. The shore form occurs along the Gulf of Finland.

Sources

Photo: Elias, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6129949491

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38120

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38120

Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38120

Text: Pinkka: IPS-153 Flora of Subarctic Europe - Saxifraga-Subularia, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38120

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurmikohokki

See also