Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Wild Pink
Also known as Pennsylvania Catchfly this delicate bloomer prefers dry rocky outcrops and clearings.
I found this colony growing on the wooded shoulder of Virginia's Skyline Drive, along with New York Ironweed and Asiatic Dayflower.
Along with its cousins in the Silene genus, the Campions, the petals of the Catchfly blossom are a sticky trap to crawling insects.
This is how Victorian botanist Neltje Blanchan describes the Pink: "Fresh, dainty, and innocent-looking as Spring herself are these bright flowers. Alas, ...the tiny creatures that try to climb up the rosy tufts to pilfer nectar...are gummed to the viscid matter that coats it, and here their struggles end...."
But hovering insects, such as bees and butterflies, avoid the stickiness and are not trapped. Coated with pollen as they drink the nectar, they transfer it to other Catchfly blossoms as they move from plant to plant.
Go to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.