SPERGULA ARVENSIS
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:-
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:-
Fruit:-
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