This plant can be highly variable in appearance. Slender stems, from a slender taproot, are erect simple or branched further up the stem. The upper internodes are generally sticky and can attract insects although the trapped insects provide no nutrients.
Plants not found in mats, elongate stems usually with a sticky band near their; petals without or only a shallow cleft and white or rose tips distinguishes this from other Silene sp.
Habitat
Dry, sandy or gravely areas in roadsides, fields, waste areas, and open woods.
Flower Characteristics
The flower is encased in an inflated calyx of fused sepals. Petals are notched at the tips.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves are up to 3 inches long and are gradually reduced higher up the stem. Stems and leaves are nearly hairless to minutely hairy.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
A mature calyx is twice as long as it is wide and has 10 longitudinal ribs.
Seeds are tiny, kidney shaped and minutely bumpy across their surface.