Family: pinks (Caryophyllaceae)
Flowering time: May–September
Size: 10–60 cm
Habitat: meadows, pastures, among shrubs
Bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) is reliably identifiable by its distinctly inflated calyx and white crown. On the inflated calyx there are clearly visible 20 longitudinal veins that are interwoven in a net-like pattern. The calyx is 12 to 18 mm long. The white crown is 15 to 25 mm long, its limb (expanded part) is deeply lobed. The bladder campion is a perennial plant that typically sends up several stems from an underground rhizome, usually bare and never sticky. It is characterized by non-flowering (sterile) shoots, which are mostly developed as basal leaf rosettes. Erect, often bluish-tinged, stems are in the upper part usually branched. At the tops of the shoots, in summer, inflorescences bloom, consisting of 3 to 20 flowers. The stems are leafy with opposite, acute leaves of various shapes (from linear to lanceolate to ovate).
Bladder campion is a plant of sunlit grassy places. It is widely distributed and a very common meadow plant throughout Slovenia.
