Red Campion

This plant produces short creeping stems and upright flowering ones from 1 to 3 feet high. Both the stem and leaves are covered with soft hairs. The unscented male and female flowers are on different plants. Pink flowered hybrids between red campion and white campion are fairly common.

Uses

Red campion can be a colourful componenet in a wild flower meadow.

Persistence

Red campion is a short lived perennial.

Strengths

The flowers of red campion are important pollinators, including bees, butterflies and hoverflies.

Frost Tolerance

Frost will kill Red Campion especially when young.

Sowing Rate Advice

1 gram per m2

Ideal Sowing Time

Red campion will grow easily from seed and can be sown in either Spring or early Autumn.

Management

Tilling or mowing can be used to greatly reduce populations of this plant on farms or in lawns.

Distinguishing characteristics

Seed
Red campion seeds are grey/brown, with rugged bumps in parallel rows.

Seedling
Seedling leaves initially develop from a basal rosette.

Flowering Plant
The scented male and female flowers are on separate plants. The male flowers have 10 stamens and the female 5 styles. A hairy calyx surrounds the fruiting capsule, which opens by 10 neary straight teeth. Reaches 60-90cm tall.

Additional Info

Flowers: April to August It was the Romans who gave campions their common name, weaving it into garlands made to crown their champions at the public games in Rome. Unlike white campion, red campion is scentless.

Works well with

Oxeye daisies, Knapweeds, Musk Mallow, Meadow Cranesbill, Bluebell.

You can find Red Campion in the following mixtures

• Floristically Enhanced Field Margin (CIPM2/IPM2/AB8)
• Nectar Stewardship Mix (CIPM2/IPM2/AB8)
• Cotswold Wild Flora
• Meadow Over-Seeding Just Wild Flowers
• Woodland Edge and Shady Area Mixture

History

Red campion is an ancient woodland indicator species.