Lychnis viscaria, the sticky catchfly, is a flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

 in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Caryophyllaceae

Caryophyllaceae

The Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactaceae and Polygonaceae...

.

It is an upright perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

, growing to 60 cm in height. It gets its English name from the stickiness of its stem

Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...

. It grows on cliff

Cliff

In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...

s and in rocky places. It has a purple flower.

Lychnis viscaria is said to increase the disease resistance of surrounding plants. Extract from L. viscaria contains a relatively high amount of brassinosteroid

Brassinosteroid

Brassinosteroids are a class of polyhydroxysteroids that have been recognized as a sixth class ofplant hormones. These were first explored nearly forty years ago when Mitchell et al. reported promotion in stem elongation and cell division by the treatment of organic extracts of rapeseed pollen...

s, which have a proven positive effect on the growth of other plants. In Germany the extract is allowed for use as a "plant strengthening substance."

See also

BBC Rare catchfly cultivated in Whitehill Bordon verges