Flowers. Photo: Luigi Rignanese, Italy

Plant. Photo: Luigi Rignanese, Italy

Base of plant. Photo: Luigi Rignanese, Italy

Immature plants. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Mediterranean Catchfly

Family

Caryophyllaceae

Notes

Introduced annual forb to 60cm tall.  Leaves opposite each other, the bases united and encircling the stem, 1-5.5cm long, 2-15mm wide, flat, sticky-hairy, with hairy edges.  Flowers pink, tubular, with five feeply forked lobes, in raceme-like groups at the tops of the stems, each flower subtended by a leaf-like bract.  The flowers only open at night.

Short description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 305

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Silene~nocturna