Sticky catchflies are related to carnations
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: SilverT
Sticky catchfly
Sticky catchfly Tõrvalill Lychnis viscaria
It`s just the tarry stalk that makes it impossible to confuse them with the maiden pink, which has smaller flowers.
Catchfly grows everywhere in Estonia: dry meadows, sparse dry forests and their borderline, wasteland and plentiful on the dry sandy slopes of south-eastern Estonia. It is a perennial plant with several basal leaves. Stalks are upright, often reddish in color. Kinks on the stalks and the base of the leaves are „tarry“. Catchflies can reach a height between twenty to seventy centimeters.
It has attractive flowers with a diameter of up to one inch with five petals in a thick and pretty cluster.
Ants live in such habitats as well and the tar protects the plant, so the ants would not be able to „loot“ the nectar-rich flowers. Pollinating bees and insects are estimated to gather over fifty kilograms of honey from a hectare of catchflies. Bees are believed to use the „tar“ from the plant to create propolis.
To comfort the flower picker – after picking catchflies, dirty palms can be cleaned with soap and water.
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