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corn-spurrey, corn-spurry, spargoute des champs, starwort, stickwort

Habit Plants glabrous or, often, glandular.
Stems

usually branched proximally, 10–50+ cm.

Leaf

blades usually appearing terete, 1.5–3(–5) cm, margins often revolute, forming abaxial channel.

Pedicels

erect to ascending, reflexed, secund in fruit.

Flowers

sepals 3.5–5 mm;

petals ovate, 3/4–1 times as long as sepals in flower, apex obtuse;

stamens usually 10.

Capsule

valves 3.5–5 mm.

Seeds

sometimes keeled or winged, subglobose, 1–1.1 mm wide, surface minutely roughened or obscurely low-tuberculate (50x), covered with white, club-shaped papillae in part or throughout (packing of seeds in capsule may prevent papillae development in spots), wings white, ± 0.1 mm wide.

2n

= 18, 36 (both Europe).

Spergula arvensis

Phenology Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Sandy roadsides, cultivated fields, other disturbed areas
Elevation 10-2000 m (0-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; ID; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; Eurasia [Introduced in North America; introduced in Central America, South America, Asia (Korea), Africa, Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Spergula arvensis is often a significant weed in sandy crop lands, but it is sometimes used as a forage crop in areas with poor, sandy soils; it was intentionally introduced to Crawford County, Michigan, in 1888 (O. Clute and O. Palmer 1893). Historical collections are known also from Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, where Spergula arvensis may have been introduced but apparently did not persist.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 15.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Polycarpoideae > Spergula
Sibling taxa
S. morisonii, S. pentandra
Synonyms S. arvensis var. sativa
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 440. 1753 
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