PlantFiles: Royal Catchfly
Silene regia

I've had this plant for two years. It took a while to settle in but is now 4' tall and has startling scarlet-red blooms in a large 'head.' It's great to see hummingbirds hover around sampling the flowers. Mine is in full sun in good soil and had to be staked.

Very attractive vivid red flowers, and a good native prairie plant to attract hummingbirds. Along with cardinal flower (lobelia cardinalis), it is one of the few truly red native prairie flowers. Although it is somewhat rare in remnant prairies, it is definitely worth adding to a native (or non-native) garden. Drought tolerant, and hardy to zone 4 (not 5 as this plant file lists).

Red is an uncommon color among prairie plants because many pollinating insects (e.g., bees) are insensitive to this range of the light spectrum. However, some butterflies perceive red, and for this reason are attracted to such flowers. The flowers of Royal Catchfly have a design that favors butterflies as pollinating agents: They have a proboscis that is sufficiently long to reach the nectar at the bottom of the long narrow tube that is formed by the calyx, while the flared petals provide a colorful landing platform for their legs. The only other plant that resembles Royal Catchfly in Illinois is Silene virginica (Fire Pink). This latter species also has bright red flowers, but the tips of its petals are slightly notched. Fire Pink is a shorter plant that occurs in and around woodland areas, often on clay or rocky banks, and is not found in prairies.

The nectar of the flowers attracts the larger butterflies, such as Papilio polyxenes asterias (Black Swallowtail), and the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. Aphids suck juices from the upper stems occasionally. There is little or no information regarding this plant's relationships to birds and animals at the present time.