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 dioica makes loose cushions of slender, bright green leaves, whose stems carry many pink flowers with divided petals. Known as the Red Campion, it is native to the UK and throughout Europe.