_Silene stellata_
_Flowers_--White, about 1/2 in. broad or over, loosely clustered in a
showy, pyramidal panicle. Calyx bell-shaped, swollen, 5-toothed, sticky;
5 fringed and clawed petals; 10 long, exserted stamens; 3 styles.
_Stem:_ Erect, leafy, 2 to 3-1/2 ft. tall, rough-hairy. _Leaves:_ Oval,
tapering to a point, 2 to 4 in. long, seated in whorls of 4 around
stem, or loose ones opposite.
_Preferred Habitat_--Woods, shady banks.
_Flowering Season_--June-August.
_Distribution_--Rhode Island westward to Mississippi, south to the
Carolinas and Arkansas.
Feathery white panicles of the Starry Campion, whose protruding stamens
and fringed petals give it a certain fleeciness, are dainty enough for
spring; by midsummer we expect plants of ranker growth and more gaudy
flowers. To save the nectar in each deep tube for the moths and
butterflies which cross-fertilize all this tribe of night and day
blossoms, most of them--and the campions are notorious examples--spread
their calices, and some their pedicels as well, with a sticky substance
to entrap little crawling pilferers. Although a popular name for the
genus is catchfly, it is usually the ant that is glued to the viscid
parts, for the fly that moves through the air alights directly on the
flower it is too short-lipped to suck. An ant catching its feet on the
miniature lime-twig, at first raises one foot after another and draws it
through its mouth, hoping to rid it of the sticky stuff, but only with
the result of gluing up its head and other parts of the body. In ten
minutes all the pathetic struggles are ended. Let no one guilty of
torturing flies to death on sticky paper condemn the Silenes!