Silene occidentalis

Western campion

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Western campion is a California native perennial found in southern Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau, northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in chaparral and conifer forest at elevations of 700 to 2,300 meters. Flowering during summer, this plant produces pink to rose-red flowers with four-lobed petals, delicate and softly colored. Growing 30 to 60 centimeters tall with erect stems that are short-soft-hairy and glandular above, it develops a sparse woody caudex. Its leaves are distinctive, with lower leaves oblanceolate and 5 to 12 centimeters long, gradually reducing in size toward the stem's upper regions. The fruit is an oblong to ovate capsule with a short hairy stalk, containing small gray-brown seeds about 1 to 1.5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Chaparral, conifer forest

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: 700-2300 m

Bioregions: s CaRH, n SNH, MP.

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.