White Campion - Silene latifolia
Medium to tall, stickily hairy plant, leaves oval lanceolate, the lowermost stalked the upper usually unstalked. Flowers white, 25 to 30 mm, in lax, branched clusters, the petals usually notched. Male and female flowers on separate plants. Calyx slightly expanded. Seed capsule with 10 erect teeth.
White flowered varieties of red campion, and the hybrid
Capsule teeth are erect
Arable and waste land, roadside verges.
May to October
Short lived perennial, sometimes annual
Common throughout most of Britain, scarcer in the west.
Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 410 of the 617 tetrads.
Graham Calow
Sapcote
15 May 2014
Graham Calow
Sapcote
22 May 2015 Field near Granitethorpe Quarry Sapcote SP 4930 9391 (taken 14.9.2008).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
14 September 2008
David Nicholls
Ratby
05 June 2014
David Gould
Croft Hill, Leics.
22 May 2015
 Field near Granitethorpe Quarry Sapcote SP 4930 9391 (taken 14.9.2008).JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- White Campion
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Caryophyllales
- Family:
- Caryophyllaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 185
- First record:
- 06/10/2005 (Anthony Fletcher)
- Last record:
- 22/09/2025 (Pugh, Dylan)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.
Latest images
Latest records
 B4114 Sapcote SP 4909 9229 (taken 3.6.2007)..JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
03 June 2007
David Nicholls
Ratby
05 June 2014
Graham Calow
Foot of Croft Hill
19 June 2014
David Nicholls
Ratby
05 June 2014
David Nicholls
Ratby
05 June 2014 B4114 Sapcote SP 4909 9229 (taken 3.6.2007).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
03 June 2007
Ron.stevens
Ketton Quarry NR
30 June 2011
Ron.stevens
Broughton Astley
24 June 2011
Alan Semper
Harby, Colston La verge
01 July 2012
Lostash
Whetstone GCR Footpath
22 June 2013
Graham Calow
Sapcote
03 April 2014
Craig Mabbett
clump hill field
29 May 2014
Barbara Cooper
Clawson Hill
03 July 2013
Lostash
Loughborough GCR Station
01 June 2014
Graham Calow
Sapcote
22 May 2015
 B4114 Sapcote SP 4909 9229 (taken 3.6.2007)..JPG)
 B4114 Sapcote SP 4909 9229 (taken 3.6.2007).JPG)
Campion Aphid Group
Aphids of the Brachycaudus lychnidis species group - (B. klugkisti, B. lychnicola and B. lychnidis sensu stricto) can usually be found living on the upper parts of Red Campion plants but it also uses White Campion.
Amauromyza flavifrons
The larva of the Agromyzid fly Amauromyza flavifrons mines the leaves of various plants including Campion. A short linear mine is formed, then a white blotch mine, the linear section sometimes is not visible under the blotch that is formed later. The blotch has a few small black grains of frass.
Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae
Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae is a gall-causing anther-smut fungus that coats the anthers of White Campion.
Puccinia arenariae
The fungus Puccinia arenariae affects the leaves and sometimes the stems of a wide range of plants, most often recorded on Campions, where it is not considered to be a gall-causer. Redfern & Shirley (2023) list Chickweed (Stellaria media) and Pearlwort (Sagina) as being galled by this species. Only brown telia are produced.