 "Silene" was originally described by Linnaeus, and members of this genus have been the subject of research by preeminent plant ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and geneticists, including Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel, Carl Correns, Herbert G. Baker, and Janis Antonovics.Many "Silene" species continue to be widely used to study systems, particularly in the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology.The genus has been used as a model for understanding the genetics of sex determination for over a century.