Some more useful members of Pink Family or the Caryophyllaceae Part 2

Sea campion or Silene uniflora at Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door, Dorset (picture by Mike Poulton)

This is the second part of useful (with many ornamental) members of the Pink family or officially the Caryophyllaceae. The first part can be found here.

I am very fond of this family as well and have been growing several native and non native species from seed.

In part 2 there are four more members mentioned by Julian Barker in his Medicinal Flora, which have some medicinal use, which are Herniaria glabra or Smooth Rupturewort, Spergularia rubra or Sand Spurrey, Agrostemma githago or Corn-Cockle and Saponaria officinalis or Soapwort.

Click links for more info and pictures from various websites. Scientific/Latin Name usually has link from the Online Atlas of the British Isles and Irish Flora. Pink background means a warning use (= poisonous!) or medicinal use, green for other uses and blue for plant habitat, interesting facts or wildlife use.

If described in the Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country it will be highlighted by FBBC in the Content page.

In Part 1 we covered Subfamily Alsinoideae which has 11 genera. In Part 2 we will cover another 11 genera in 2 subfamilies:

  • 2 Subfamily Paronychioideae with 5 genera (genera 12-17)
  • 3 Subfamily Caryophylloideae with 6 genera (genera 18-24)

Contents:

Subfamily 2 PARONYCHIOIDEAE

12 Corrigiola litoralis or Strapwort

13 Herniaria spp.or Ruptureworts

  • H. glabra or Smooth Rupturewort
  • H. ciliolata or Fringed Rupturewort and 2 ssp. a) Ssp ciliolata & Ssp. subciliata
  • H. hirsuta or Hairy Rupturewort

14 Illecebrum verticillatum or Coral-necklace

15 Polycarpon tetraphyllum or Four-leaved Allseed

16 Spergula spp. or Spurreys

  • S. arvensis or Corn Spurrey with also 3 different varieties. FBBC
  • S. morisonnii or Pearlwort Spurrey

17 Spergularia ssp. or Sea-spurreys

  • S. rupicola or Rock Sea-spurrey
  • S. media or Greater Sea-spurrey
  • S. marina or Lesser Sea-spurrey FBBC
  • S. rubra or Sand Spurrey FBBC
  • S. bocconei or Greek Sea-spurrey

Subfamily 3 CARYOPHYLLOIDEAE

18 Agrostemma githago or Corncockle FBBC

19 Silene spp. or Campions

20 Saponaria officinalis or Soapwort FBBC

21 Vaccaria hispanica or Cowherb FBBC

22 Petrorhagia spp. or Pinks

  • P. nanteuilii or Childing Pink
  • P. prolifera or Proliferous Pink
  • P. dubia or Hayling Island Pink
  • P. saxifraga or Tunicflower

23 Gypsophila paniculata or Baby’s-breath FBBC

G. elegans or Annual Baby’s-breath

24 Dianthus spp or Pinks

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