Sea Campion - Silene maritima - Western Isles White Wildflowers

Sea Campion - White Wildflowers
When seen close up these lovely white wild flowers are just stunning.

They can be seen in flower from April to July and are to be seen often on the cliff tops - as the name suggests by the sea.

Native Wildflowers of The Western Isles
A small, clump-forming perennial that is a native plant to the Western isles.

The clump forming plant grows on the coastal cliff tops as well as on shingle or grassland. The trumpetlike flowers just signal that summer is here.

Pink Family

Sea Campion belongs to the family of "Caryophyllaceae" or the "pink or carnations Family"

High Salt Tolerance
Sea Campion is a native, perennial herb with a high tolerance for salt which is why it thrives so well in and around the beaches of the Western Isles. These trumpet like flowers with their pretty centres create stunning vista along the cliffs.

Gardeners Love Sea Campion for Rockeries
Its abundant flowers and undemanding nature also make it a favourite rockery perennial

Several Different Campions

Here in The Western Isles we get several campions, which are members of the carnation family.

We get white campions, sea campions, moss campions, red campions and there is a plant which is very similar and closely related, the ragged robin.

The white flowers with their inflated, bladder-like calyces grow on short stalks and cover the plan.

Flowers Bloom May - to July
The flowers are in bloom from May and throughout till late July.

Sea Campion Likes Well Drained Soil on Clifftops
The plant lives the sun - and thrives in the well drained soil on the clifftops.

The lovely white flowers are between 6ins to 12 ins in height and usually there is just one flower for each stem which is unlike other campions which tend to have several flowers on one stem.

Bladder Like Calyces
The white flowers with their inflated, bladder-like calyces grow on short stalks and cover the plan. Sea Campion can be confused with Bladder Campion which some experts and books think are one and the same thing. But Bladder Campion is more branched and stands more erect.

The flowers are in bloom from May and throughout till late July. The plant lives the sun - and thrives in the well drained soil on the clifftops. The lovely white flowers are between 6ins to 12 ins in height and usually there is just one flower for each stem which is unlike other campions which tend to have several flowers on one stem

Leaves

The the Sea Campion leaves are slighly fleshy, this helps then keep moisture in and protect the plant from the winds. The sea campions leaves are waxy and are pointed at the ends, This lovely white wildflower is native to the western isles. .

Sea Campion Wildflower
Ghioridail - Tolsta Head

Sea Campion - Isle of Harris
White - Wildflowers

Sea Campion - White Hebridean Wildflowers - Western Isles Flora

Isle of Lewis Wildflowers
Carpet of Sea Campion

Sea Campions - wildflowers - Hebrides Flora

Sea Campions
Western Isles Flora

Sea Campion & Thrift - Hebridian Flowers

Sea Campion & Thrift
Hebridean Flowers

Sea Campion Wildflower
Isle of Lewis Flora

Click pictures below for larger photographs

Names for the Campion - Deadmens Bells
One of the names given to this lovely white flowering plant is that of "Deadmen's Bells".

Deadmenns Bells - so called as it was thought to be not easy to reach these flowers as they grow so high up on the cliff tops as to be unreachable,

It is said that that if one did get up there to pick the lovely white flowers it was thought that one would be tempting death

Sea Campion - A Carpet of Wildflowers - Ghioridail - Tolsta

Sea Campion Beside Pink Thrift

Lovely white wildflowers - the sea campions are very often to be seen growing alongside the pink thrift

Bees are Attracted to Sea Campion
Bees are attracted to Sea Campion flowers, which grow on relatively long shoots.

As the flowers move in the breeze the pollinating insects such as bees and moths are drawn to the flowers

	Pixels	Inches	Centimetres
Width
Height
Inches and cm sizes are approximate