Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Spergularia tasmanica
Common name
A sand-spurrey
Family
Caryophyllaceae
Where found
Saline, sometimes non-saline, swamps and marshes. Coastal.
Notes
Annual to perennial herb to 0.4 m tall or sprawling, with a thick woody rootstock. Leaves fleshy, opposite each other or appearing whorled, 1–8 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, tips with a mucro or short bristle, surfaces hairless, margins sometimes sparsely fringed with small glandular hairs. Stipules scarcely pointed, sometimes forked, shortly joined to the stem at the bases of the leaves within the flower clusters. Flowers with 5 pink petals each about 4 mm long. Stamens 5–10. Sepals occasionally with dark purple spots at the base, 4–7 mm long, longer than the petals. Flowers in open clusters. Seed cases 6–9 mm long.
Definite differentiation between the species of Spergularia depends on microscopic examination of the seeds.
PlantNET description with line drawings: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Spergularia~tasmanica (accessed 7 February, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
