Scientific name: Sherardia arvensis L.
Common name: Field Madder
Description
Habit: Annual or perennial.
Stems: Slender, procumbent to ascending, 4-angled, to 40 cm long.
Leaves: Opposite, with several leafy and large stipules per leaf making it appear that leaves are in whorls of 6; unstalked, 5-15 mm long, undivided, untoothed, narrowing at the end to a sharp point, lower leaves oval, upper leaves lanceolate.
Flowers: Pink, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, small, in dense axillary or terminal clusters, surrounded by a whorl of leaves; sepals 6, triangular, persistent; petals 4, fused into long and slender tube below, with 4 short lobes, corolla 2-4 mm across; stamens 4-5, attached to the top of corolla tube; ovary inferior, 2-celled.
Fruits: 2 fused and later separated 1-seeded nutlets.
Habitat: Roadsides, walls, rocks, sand-dunes, dry grassland.Distribution: Widespread but not common.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No