Robust reddish pink, occasionally white, flower of the marshes and damp meadows with deeply cleft, feathery petals. Its leaves are in pairs, the basal spoon-shaped to oval and stalked, those on the stem narrow-lanceolate, unstalked and pointed. It flowers from late May to early August. This perennial scentless plant must be one of the prettiest to be found in boggy ground, transforming the flat brown bog in early summer with its rosy coloured flowers; its five petals are modified into delicately-fringed, ragged blossoms to withstand windy weather. Butterflies also find Ragged-Robin well worth visiting. It is to be found in marshy places throughout Ireland. This native plant, formerly known as Lychnis flos-cuculi, belongs to the family Caryophyllaceae..
I first identified this wildflower in 1973 at Cleggan in Co Galway, these photographs were taken in Killoughter in 1988 and the Burren in 2007.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
