Striped Corn Catchfly

A plant that can communicate? Based upon the color of the sand catchfly flower, you can tell what month it is. The light pink colored flowers blossom in May while the darker colored flowers appear around 6 weeks later! Sand catchfly grows primarily in the dunes. Occasionally you find it on sandy construction sites, but it is short-lived in such soils. It prefers open, sunny and dry places. It is often found in areas which have been strongly influenced by man, such as shoulders of roads or paths.

The Sarmatic mixed forests ecoregion stretches from northwestern Europe to the Ural Mountains in Russia and represents one of the broadest longitudinal expanse of any ecoregion of the Earth. Dominant canopy species include Scots pine and Norway spruce (Picea abies) intermixed with some broadleaf species such as (Quercus robur). There are a number of shrubs, wildflowers, grasses and mosses that inhabit the mid-tier and forest floor. Common low-growing shrubs include Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and Heather (Calluna vulgaris).

Example wildflowers or forbs seen in the forest understory in association with Sand Catchfly (Silene conica) are: Red Campion (Silene dioica), White Campion (Silene latifolia), Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) and Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris). In some fens within forest clearings the Marsh thistle (Cirsium palustre) is found.

Other associates in the Sarmatic forests include some widespread ferns seen on forest floors such as Western Brackenfern (Pteridium aquilinum) and Mountain Bladderfern (Cystopteris montana). Common mosses found in the more mesic soils are Broom Forkmoss (Dicranum scoparium), Stairstep Moss (Hylocomium splendens), Red-stemmed Feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi), Ostrich Plume (Ptilium crista-castrensis) and Common Hair Moss (Polytrichum commune).

Silene conica is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names striped corn catchfly and sand catchfly. It grows in dunes and sandy soils and is widespread in Europe and western Asia. It has an annual life history and produces self-compatible hermaphroditic flowers and occasional male-sterile flowers (i.e., gynomonoecy). Like other members of Silene section Conoimorpha, S. conica is readily recognizable based on its bright pink petals and the prominent, parallel veins on its calyx. In contrast to most flowering plants, S. conica appears to have a very rapid rate of mitochondrial mutation, and has the largest mitochondrial genome (11.3 Mb) ever identified.