There are numerous flowers and flowering plants known by the name 'campion', but our sole reference to the flower is in the abandoned city of Vinyamar, growing on the stone stairs there on the shores of the Great Sea. So, the variety of campion found in Vinyamar was probably sea campion, a plant that thrives in the rocky landscapes and salt air along sea shores. Sea campion grows in green mats, from which numerous small white flowers spring up. It was encountered in Vinyamar by Tuor, growing beside the taller pink flowers of thrift, as he climbed the stone steps that led to the hall of Turgon's old city by the Sea.
Notes
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Campion takes its name from the fact that in classical times, the flower would be used in victory wreaths, and so its name campion is cognate with the modern word 'champion'. The variety most particularly associated with this practice was the rose campion (Silene coronaria) whose scientific name incorporates the Latin word for 'crown'. |
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- Updated 3 December 2020
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