Plantlife, the charity which speaks up for the nation’s plants, says that it’s OK to pick these 12 common flowers (provided you don’t go beserk in the woods and fields of the UK).
Three things you might not know about Red Campion according to Plantlife.
Another alternative name from the Wildlife Trusts probably relates to an apparent use of its crushed seeds according to Wikipedia.
Stupid idea.
More interesting is Campion smut a fungus that produces it’s spores on the anthers of Campion turning them black http://bioref.lastdragon.org/Pucciniomycotina/Microbotryum_lychnidis-dioicae.html
How did that pesky apostrophe get in there. I apologise for its presence.
also look out for bees that cut a hole in the base of the flower to get at the nectar that they can’t otherwise reach
http://www.etho-ges.de/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Red_campion_survey.pdf
I have a fuchsia bush in my garden which provides a great place to observe this behaviour. A very high proportion of the flowers currently on the bush have a small hole chewed into the nectary at the base of the flower where a bee has short-circuited the ‘official’ route to the nectar. If you watch for a while you can catch them doing it. I believe in its native range this is a humming-bird pollinated species.