Common name:
Red valerian
Family:
Scientific name:
Centranthus ruber
Main flower color:
Range:
England and Wales; most common in the south. An introduced species
Height:
Up to 80 cm
Habitat:
Cliffs, rocky places, old walls, waste ground
Flowers:
Dense, terminal clusters of small (5 mm diameter) pinkish-red flowers, occasionally all-white, which have a narrow tube attached to a single, backwards-pointing spur, and opening to five spreading lobes, paler on the upper surface. At the centre are one stamen, topped by a purple anther, and one pistil
Leaves:
Opposite, grey-green, ovate, hairless and untoothed. Lower stem leaves have short stalks; others are sessile
Season:
December to September
Rarity:
★★★★★
