Bladder campion

Silene vulgaris, the bladder campion, is a perennial herb of the pink family growing 25 to 80 cm tall from a branching, somewhat woody rootstock. The smooth, often greyish-green and waxy stems bear opposite, lance-shaped to ovate leaves that are stalkless above. Its most distinctive feature is the calyx, which is inflated into a pale, balloon-like, net-veined bladder marked with about twenty veins, from the mouth of which protrude five deeply notched white petals. The slightly drooping, fragrant flowers open toward evening in loose branched clusters and are pollinated by moths. The fruit is a capsule opening by teeth at the top and releasing many small kidney-shaped seeds. Native across Europe and temperate Asia and naturalized in North America, it grows in meadows, on roadsides, cultivated ground, and stony slopes.