snowy campion

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

N4? - Apparently Secure

S2 - Imperiled

Minnesota

Great Plains

Midwest

FACW - Facultative wetland

Northcentral & Northeast

FACW - Facultative wetland

Native

Moderate moisture. Openings in alluvial forests and meadows.

June to August

White

12″ to 36″

This is a 12″ to 36″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises from an elongated rhizome.

The stems are erect, unbranched or sparsely branched, and leafy.

The stem leaves are in opposite pairs. They are elliptic to lance-shaped, 2″ to 4″ long, ⅜″ to 1⅓″ wide, largest near the middle of the stem, smaller and withering toward the base. They taper gradually to a long pointed tip with concave sides along the tip. They are attached to the stem on a short leaf stalk or no stalk at all. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is an open, leafy cluster of 1 to 12 but usually 3 to 5 flowers.

The sepals are fused at the base into a tube (calyx) terminating in 5 short lobes. The calyx is ⅓″ to ⅔″ long, from less than ¼″ to ⅓″ wide. It has a broad base with a navel-like indentation. It is green and broadly tubular to bell-shaped. It has 10 obscure green veins with no obvious network of veins between them. It has no ribs and is either hairless or densely covered with hairs.

Flowers are about ½″ wide when fully open, and are on stalks that are 2 to 2½ times as long as the calyx.

The 5 petals are white, 2-lobed, with a stalk-like narrow base (claw). The 10 stamens and 3 styles protrude slightly from the calyx. The flowers open in the evening.

The fruit is a green, hairless, egg-shaped, 1-chambered capsule the same size as the calyx, with 3 teeth at the top that sometimes split and appear to be 6 teeth.

This plant is recognized by the green calyx with obscure veins and a broad base with a navel-like indentation.

Sources: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 28.