Orange campion is a perennial wildflower of northeast Asia with round, orange-red flowers about 1.5 in (4 cm) across. It grows wild in northern China, Korea, and the Russian Far East but not in the US, and outside its home range it's only occasionally sold for gardens, usually under its older name Lychnis cognata. It's also called orange catchfly.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A hairy perennial about 1–3 ft (30–100 cm) tall.
- Leaves
- Leaves are paired, lance-shaped to oval, about 2–4 in (5–11 cm) long, and hairy along the veins.
- Flowers
- Flowers are orange-red. Each of the 5 petals is notched into two rounded lobes, which makes the flower look like it has 10 petals at a glance.
- Fruit
- A narrow, egg-shaped capsule about 0.6 in (1.5 cm) long.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Mountain slopes
- Ravines
- Open woods
- Grassland
- Range
- Native to northern and northeast China, the Korean Peninsula, and Primorsky Krai in the Russian Far East. It doesn't grow wild in the US.
- Preferred conditions
- In China it grows on mountain slopes, gullies, forests, scrub, and grassland at about 1,600–6,600 ft (500–2,000 m).
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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