POLYCARPON TETRAPHYLLUM

Family and Genus:- See- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Names:- Four-leaved allseed

Homotypic Synonyms:- Holosteum tetraphyllum, Polycarpaea tetraphylla,

Mollugo tetraphylla

Meaning:- Polycarpon (Gr) Many-fruited, a name used by the Greek physician

Hippocrates.

Tetraphyllum (L) Four leaved, with leaves in fours.

General description:- Glabrous or somewhat papillose annual or biennial.

Stems:-

1) 4-12 cm, usually much branched.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite or in whorls of 4, 4-15 mm, elliptical to broadly oblanceolate.

2) Stipules and bracts, 2-3 mm, triangular-ovate, acuminate, scarious.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, lax, spreading, in branched clusters, white, tiny, 2-3 mm.

2) Petals, emarginate, narrow, shorter than the sepals.

3) Sepals, c. 2 mm, ovate, keeled, with whitish margins.

4) Stamens, (1-)3-5.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, dehiscing, with 3 valves almost to the base; valves twisting spirally into

tubes.

2) Seeds, c. 0.5 mm, several, minutely tuberculate.

Key features:-

1) Annual to perennial, without a woody stock.

2) Stipules, and bracts ± conspicuous and silvery.

3) Petals, usually emarginate.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry, sandy and gravelly places, coastal habitats, streambeds, roadsides,

fallow fields and wasteground. 0-800(-1700)m.

Distribution:- Widespread throughout the Mediterranean region SW Europe and

SW Asia. Widespread on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mainly Apr-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton