Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Spergula arvensis

Common name

Corn spurry

Family

Caryophyllaceae

Where found

Weed of new lawns, disturbed sites, and cultivated land. Mostly Sydney area to Blue Mountains, and the ACT. Occasional elsewhere.

Notes

Introduced annual herb to 0.4 m high or sprawling. Leaves fleshy. Glandular hairs on stems, leaves, flower stalks, and sepals. Leaves whorled, 0.7–3.5 cm long, 0.3–0.8 mm wide, fleshy, margins strongly rolled down, tips blunt. Flowers 4–7 mm in diameter, with 5 white petals. Stalks on individual flowers 4–20 mm long, sharply turned down after flowering but often becoming erect again as the seed case matures. Flowers in loose branched clusters. Flowering: August–January.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Spergula~arvensis (accessed 7 February, 2021)