Silene dichotoma
Encyclopedia
Silene dichotoma is a species of flowering plant in the pink family
Caryophyllaceae
The Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactaceae and Polygonaceae...

 known by the common name forked catchfly. It is native to Eurasia and it is known in other parts of the temperate world, such as sections of North America, where it is a weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...

 that grows in disturbed habitat. It is an annual herb growing up to 80 centimeters tall. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 8 centimeters long on the lower stem and are smaller farther up. Each flower is encapsulated in an inflated calyx of sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...

s lined with ten dark veins. It is open at the tip, revealing five white to red petals, each with two lobes at the tip and sometimes taking a curled form.

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