SPERGULA ARVENSIS

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Names:- Corn spurrey

Synonyms:- Alsine arvensis, Arenaria arvensis, Spergula arvensis var.

pomeliana, Spergula arvensis var. sativa, Spergula arvensis subsp. sativa,

Spergula nordica, Spergula sativa, Spergularia arvensis, Stellaria arvensis.

Meaning:- Spergula (L) Scatterer, Reference to the discharge of seeds.

Arvensis (L) Of the cultivated field, of ploughed fields

General description:- Annuals

Stems:-

1) Ascending 10-30 cm simple; internodes ± the same length throughout the stem,

more or less branched at the base, sparsely glandular- and eglandular

pubescent throughout.

Leaves:-

1) 1-3(-8) cm, appearing in whorls of 6 (usually interpreted as a pair of leaves with

dwarf, leafy branches in their axils), linear, fleshy, channelled beneath,

sometimes with fascicles of smaller leaves in their axils

Flowers:-

1) Flowers in irregular, terminal dichasia; pedicels long, filiform.

2) Sepals, 3-5 mm, ovate.

3) Petals, white slightly exceeding the sepals, obovate, obtuse, contiguous.

4) Stamens, 5-10.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 5 mm. subglobose, somewhat longer than the sepals.

2) Seeds, 0.8-1.2 mm, slightly compressed. keeled, grey-black, ± papillate.

Key features:-

1) Styles and capsule-valves 5.

2) Seeds subglobose or compressed, keeled or with a narrow wing.

3) Leaves usually channelled beneath.

Habitat:- Sandy fallow fields, orchards, olive groves, open woodland, gravelly

roadsides. 0-1100 m.

Distribution:- Scattered in W Greece. - Throughout Europe, and now almost a

cosmopolitan weed. Rare on Crete known from only a few locations in the Dikti and

Lefka Ori areas.

Flowering time:- Mar-May, sometimes later.

Photos by:- Francesco Russo