This pretty summer plant is fond of damp places like its cousin the
Ragged Robin.
It has pink flowers, which usually grow in pairs at the end of slender
stalks branching from the main stem. Sometimes you may find a single
flower growing on a small stalk in between two pairs on much larger
stalks.
There are five petals, each with a deep nick in the centre, as if a
three-cornered piece had been cut out. These petals lie flat open round
the rim of the reddish-green cup formed by the sepals; and if you pull
the sepals apart, you find that the petals have long strap-shaped ends
which go right down into the cup.
There is a curious thing about this plant. You find one pink flower with
a bunch of stamens inside the cup. You can see their tips peeping out
where the pink petals all meet together. There is no seed-vessel in the
middle. And in another plant, that looks just the same till you examine
it, you find no stamens, but instead there is a green seed-vessel in the
centre of the cup, with fine, wavy green threads at the top which stand
out where the petals join.
The stem of the Red Campion is red and sticky, and the leaves grow
opposite each other in pairs which clasp the stem.
If you crush the leaves and stalks they give out a strong scent which is
not pleasant.
PLATE XXXVIII: 1. DOVE'S-FOOT CRANE'S-BILL 2. HERB-ROBERT
3. STORK'S BILL