Chaffweed

Centunculus minimus

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Ericales

Family:

Primulaceae (Primrose)

Also in this family:

Bird's-eye Primrose, Bog Pimpernel, Brookweed, Chickweed Wintergreen, Common Primrose, Cowslip, Creeping Jenny, Dotted Loosestrife, Eastern Sowbread, False Oxlip, Fringed Loosestrife, Japanese Cowslip, Oxlip, Scarlet Pimpernel, Scots Primrose, Sea Milkwort, Sowbread, Spring Sowbread, Tibetan Cowslip, Water Violet, Yellow Loosestrife, Yellow Pimpernel

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Annual

Maximum Size:

5 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Heathland, roadsides, seaside, woodland.

Flower:

Variable in colour, 5 petals

Tiny, solitary, pink or white flowers, measuring a mere 1 to 2mm in diameter. They are short-stalked and hidden in the bases of the leaves. The petals are shorter than the sepals.

Fruit:

Tiny, globular fruit.

Leaves:

A low growing, erect annual flower with oval leaves. The leaves are hardly stalked or not stalked at all. The upper leaves are alternate along the stems but lower leaves are in opposite pairs. Found mainly by the coast in southern and western England. Also on the coast in northern and western Ireland.

Frequency (UK):

Unusual