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Cone Campion
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Cone Campion
ative Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Cone Campion, Large Sand Catchfly, Cone catchfly, Weed campion, Weed silene
Botanical name: Silene conoidea    Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Conosilene conoidea, Cucubalus conoideus

Cone Campion is an annual herb, up to 40 cm tall. Stems are erect, branched or simple, densely glandular-velvety. Leaves are 2.5-14 cm long, 0.2-1.2 cm wide, linear-lanceshaped, base stem,-clasping at the nodes, stalkless, glandular-velvety. Bracts are similar to leaves, but smaller in size. Flowers are borne in panicles, with 3-5 flowers in lax clusters. Flower-stalks are densely glandular-velvet-hairy. Sepal tube is 2.1-2.5 cm long, pointed, with lanceshaped teeth, 30-nerved. Petals are pink to reddish, limb 8-9 mm, notched or entire, claw 1.5-1.6 cm. Coronal scales are oblong. Carpophore is about 1 mm, glabrous. Capsule is 1.1-1.8 cm, conical, with narrow neck, included in the calyx. Seeds are 1.1 mm long, kidney-shaped. Cone Campion is found in the Himalayas, S. Europe, N. Africa and temperate Asia, at altitudes of 1500-2500 m. Flowering: May-July.
Medicinal uses: The plant is said to be emollient and is used in baths or as a fumigant. The juice of the plant is used in the treatment of ophthalmia.

Identification credit: Gurcharan Singh
Photographed in Indraprastha Park, Delhi & at Turtuk Village, Ladakh.
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