Native to a broad range from central and southeastern Europe to Northern Iran and Central Asia to the Western Himalayas, the plant known as rose campion is a distinctive biennial or short-lived perennial. It possesses tall stems entirely cloaked in white woolly hairs and bears bright magenta flowers, while its foliage presents an unusual silvery-green hue​​. Typically summer-flowering, it is found in habitats such as roadsides, fields, clearings, or rocky areas and has been introduced to parts of the United States, where it has naturalized in regions like the low mountains to the coastal plains of North Carolina​​. Cultivars with white, rose, or pink flowers are available. Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia.