With the arrival of June, we find ourselves in what might be the most beautiful season that we experience here in New England. One might also make an argument that autumn is the most beautiful season of the year, but autumn means that school is in session, and thus a point is lost. School is still going in early June, but the end is nigh and the freedom of the summer break adds a buoyancy to the general mood, scoring a single point and securing the win.
I was speaking with my mother just last week and we were both commenting on the dazzling beauty of the late-spring landscape. The vegetation in fields and lawns is now as lush and verdant as it is going to be, and the fields and meadows of our area are abloom with some delightfully beautiful wildflowers. Buttercups, robin plantains, Pennsylvania fleabane, various wild irises and dandelions are blanketing those areas that have been spared the mowers, but my mother was particularly interested in one of the most gorgeous species – the ragged robin (Silene flos-cuculi). So, this one’s for you Mom.
I think I’ll start with some of the unobtrusive minutia that surrounds this plant. The scientific name is particularly interesting to me because it is both fun and informative. The Genus name “Silene,” is an homage to the Greek god Silenus, who is the god of winemaking, drunkenness, and ecstatic dance. The fact that the type of dance is very specifically “ecstatic” is very amusing. Silenus is supposed to embody the uninhibited spirit of nature.
The species name “flos-cuculi,” is a mashup of the Latin words “flos,” meaning “flower,” and “cuculi,” which is the possessive form of the word “cuculus,” which means “the cuckoo.” The translation might be something like “flower of the cuckoo,” or “cuckoo’s flower.” This is a reference to the fact that the flowers bloom in the springtime, when the cuckoos sing, but the cuckoos being referred to are Common Cuckoos, which are found in Europe. This is an indication that the Ragged Robin is not native to North America, but exists as a species that was introduced by Europeans when they colonized North America. The species is listed as non-native, but not invasive.
I did a little more digging and learned that the woodland god Silenus was chosen by the famous Swedish taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus because the god was often depicted as being covered in saliva (a product of his interminable drunkenness). There is a group of plants known as “catchflies,” that secrete a sticky glue-like liquid on their stems to capture crawling insects that might raid the flower blossoms without helping to pollinate them in any way. Thus, this group of plants is making an effort to encourage the flying insects (butterflies and bees) that accidentally help the flowers move their pollen around while they get some free food. They are all included in the genus Silene.
The Ragged Robin, as with most plants that are collectively known as “wildflowers,” is best known for its blossoms. The plant itself is often overlooked and poorly understood. It grows in damp fields and meadows where it self-seeds and spreads easily. The plants are perennials, which means that they persist through the winter and grow in the same spot again and again. As a result, you can find Ragged Robin in the same place year after year, so make sure to share the locations of these flowers with like-minded flower lovers.
Here is a direct quote from a flower guide that might shed some light on the reason why we tend to ignore the plants: “Ragged robin features a narrow rosette of stalked, spathulate to oblanceolate, bristly-hairy, gray-green, basal leaves from which sticky-hairy, sparsely-branched stems rise well above the foliage to 24-30 inches tall.” Basically, there is a whorl of leaves, low to the ground, that are shaped somewhat like spoons. The leaves are gray-green and bristly, rather than being soft and smooth. Those fly-catching stems can grow up to 30 inches tall, atop which the flowers are located.
The flowers themselves are composed of five dark-pink petals, each of which has been deeply divided into four projections that look something like fingers. This configuration gives the flowers their “ragged” appearance and makes each blossom look something like a snowflake made by folding and cutting a sheet of paper. These flowers are absolutely beautiful and they are extremely popular with bees and butterflies. The species was introduced for its beauty and it is an explosive bloomer that provides a lot of food for some of our native insects. I’ve run out of room for this week, but today’s photo is easily worth another thousand words at least. I hope you get the chance to see a field awash in the magenta flowers before hay season arrives.
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 28 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more information visit www.speakingofnature.com, Speaking of Nature on Facebook, or the Speaking of Nature Podcast.