Night-flowering Catchfly Silene noctiflora

Edgefield, Norfolk, 10 July

Introduced sometime before 1600, this species is an 'archaeophyte' and may well have been brought to Britain by Neolithic farmers. Favouring light, sandy soils, it is more-or-less confined to eastern England but has declined in recent years. Nevertheless, it can still be found quite widely in Norfolk, usually in temporary set-aside or unsown field margins.