Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Caryophyllaceae > Silene > Silene behen

Silene behen (maiden's tears; rattleweed; maiden's-tears; maidenstears; cowbell; bladder campion; bladder silene)

Synonyms:

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Bee Flower Color [2]  Blue-Green
Flower Color [2]  White
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [3]  Dioecious
Hazards [3]  Although no mention of toxicity has been seen for this species, it does contain saponins. Although toxic, these substances are very poorly absorbed by the body and so tend to pass through without causing harm. They are also broken down by thorough cooking. Saponins are found in many plants, including several that are often used for food, such as certain beans. It is advisable not to eat large quantities of food that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish;
Lifespan [3]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Lepidoptera, Bees
Structure [5]  Herb
Usage [3]  Although no specific mention has been seen for this species, it is most likely that the following use can be made of the plant:- The root is used as a soap substitute for washing clothes etc; The soap is obtained by simmering the root in hot water.
Height [3]  24 inches (0.6 m)
Light Preference [4]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [4]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [4]  Intermediate
Soil Moisture [4]  Mostly Dry
View Plants For A Future Record : Silene behen

Protected Areas

Predators

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2Arnold SEJ, Faruq S, Savolainen V, McOwan PW, Chittka L, 2010 FReD: The Floral Reflectance Database — A Web Portal for Analyses of Flower Colour. PLoS ONE 5(12): e14287.
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999)
♦ 5Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Plant-SyNZ™ database
♦ 8Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0