SHERARDIA ARVENSIS

Family and Genus:- See- RUBIACEAE

Common Names:- Field madder

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Sherardia (L) For William Sherard (1659-1728) and his brother James

Sherard.

Arvensis (L) Of the cultivated/ploughed field.

General description:- Annual herb, usually branched from base;

Stems:-

1) 5-20 cm, procumbent to suberect, sharply tetragonous, subglabrous, somewhat

scabrid with small deflexed prickles.

Leaves:-

1) Whorled bunches of 4-6;

a) lowest, short and broadly obovate, soon withering..

b) upper, larger, up to 15 x 5 mm, thin, narrowly elliptical, acuminate.

Flowers:-

1) Sessile in lateral and terminal heads subtended by leaf-like bracts connate

for 2-3 mm at base.

2) Calyx, 4-6-dentate, persistent and somewhat indurate in fruit.

3) Corolla, 4-6 mm, narrowly infundibuliform, usually pink.

Fruit:-

1) Mericarps, 2, dry, ovoid.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Cultivated and fallow fields, orchard, secondry grassland, wasteground,

occasionally in dry open shrubby vegetation and other semi-natural habitats. 0-800

(-1200) m. (-1600 m. in dolines).

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean.

Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton