This is the campion family, with some tiny alpine cushion plants, and some larger herbaceous species. Most of the ones that we grow come from high in the mountains, but sizes are variable. They all have the characteristic five-petalled flowers, often with a distinctive and attractive striped and coloured calyx.

Silene zawadskii is an eastern European mountain plant, with tufts of glossy leaves, the upright stems carrying a few white flowers.