Arenaria serpyllifolia L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Caryophyllaceae

• Scientific Name

  Arenaria serpyllifolia L.

• Description

  Species Description - Diffuse, delicate or wiry, puberulent annual 5–30 cm; lvs usually 8–10 pairs, 3–8 × 3–5 mm, ovate, acute, sparsely scabrid-puberulent, 3–5-nerved, mostly much shorter than the internodes; infl short or extending to the middle of the stem; bracts leafy, pedicels slender, 4–8 mm; sep 2.5–4 mm, lance-ovate, acuminate, 3–5-nerved, somewhat carinate, scarious-margined, scabrid- puberulent or often glandular; pet usually shorter than the sep; fr ovoid-conic, ± exceeding the sep, dehiscent to an uncertain depth by 6 teeth or valves; seed plump, 0.4–0.6 mm, gray-black or reddish-brown, tessellate- tuberculate; tetraploid on x=10. Native of Eurasia, now found throughout most of temperate N. Amer. as a weed in sandy or stony places. May–Aug. A delicate, diploid phase with relatively small lvs, fls and frs, less common in our range than typical A. serpyllifolia, is var. tenuior Mert. & Koch. (A. leptoclados)

• Common Names

  thyme-leaf sandwort