Sweet William Catchfly is a European plant that has escaped gardens and now grows wild in scattered parts of the United States. Its bright pink flower clusters and sticky bands near the top of the stem help identify it. Despite its sticky stems, it is not a carnivorous plant.
Appearance
- Appearance
- The smooth, blue-green stems often have sticky bands below the upper leaf joints. Small pink, or rarely white, flowers form tight rounded clusters at the ends of the branches.
- Growth form
- It is usually an annual or , about 4–28 in (10–70 cm) tall.
- Leaves
- Leaves grow in opposite pairs and are broader and spoon-shaped near the base, then become narrower and clasp the upper stem.
- Flowering time
- In North Carolina, flowering and fruiting are recorded from June through October.
- Fruit
- The narrow opens with several teeth and releases tiny dark brown seeds.
Look-alikes
China pink has larger, flat flowers with deeply fringed petal edges and often a darker eye. Sweet William Catchfly has smaller flowers in a tight cluster at the stem tip and sticky bands below the places where upper leaves join the stem.
Why they get mixed upBoth are pink-flowered members of the pink family.
Moss phlox forms a creeping mat only about 6 in (15 cm) tall and has needle-like leaves with tubular flowers. Sweet William Catchfly stands upright and has broader leaves that grow in opposite pairs plus sticky stem bands.
Why they get mixed upBoth can make a bright mass of five-lobed pink flowers.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- disturbed ground
- roadsides
- garden edges
- waste places
- Range
- It is native to southern and south-central Europe and nearby Türkiye. In the United States it is introduced and has been recorded in many scattered states from the East to the West Coast and Hawaii.
- Preferred conditions
- It favors open, sunny, disturbed ground. Plants may persist after escaping from gardens.
- Flowering
Flowers Jun–Oct
Flowers Jun–Oct
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- It reproduces by seed and may reseed beyond a garden planting.
Name and classification
- About the name
- An older scientific name is Silene armeria.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
11 sources
- iNaturalist taxon API: Atocion armeria
- Atocion armeria (L.) Raf. | Plants of the World Online
- Vascular Plants of Dokdo and Ulleungdo Island in Korea | 국립생물자원관
- 日本の外来種全種リスト | 国立環境研究所
- ムシトリナデシコ | 岡山理科大学 植物生態研究室
- 生態系被害防止外来種リスト選定資料 | 環境省
- Dianthus chinensis | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- Phlox subulata | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina: Atocion armeria
- Silene armeria | Great Plains Herbaria (Flora of North America treatment)
- 녹비작물과 경관작물: 끈끈이대나물 | 농촌진흥청