Corn Spurrey

Spergula arvensis

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:

Caryophyllales

Family:

Caryophyllaceae (Pink)

Also in this family:

Alpine Catchfly, Alpine Mouse-ear, Alpine Pearlwort, Annual Knawel, Annual Pearlwort, Arctic Mouse-ear, Arctic Sandwort, Berry Catchfly, Bladder Campion, Bog Stitchwort, Bouncing Bett, Cheddar Pink, Childing Pink, Clove Pink, Common Chickweed, Common Corn-cockle, Common Mouse-ear, Common Soapwort, Coral Necklace, Cyphel, Deptford Pink, Dwarf Mouse-ear, English Sandwort, Field Mouse-ear, Fine-leaved Sandwort, Four-leaved Allseed, Fringed Rupturewort, Fringed Sandwort, Greater Chickweed, Greater Sea-spurrey, Greater Stitchwort, Greek Sea-spurrey, Grey Mouse-ear, Heath Pearlwort, Italian Catchfly, Knotted Pearlwort, Lesser Chickweed, Lesser Sea-spurrey, Lesser Stitchwort, Little Mouse-ear, Maiden Pink, Marsh Stitchwort, Moss Campion, Mossy Sandwort, Mountain Sandwort, Night-flowering Catchfly, Nottingham Catchfly, Perennial Knawel, Pink, Procumbent Pearlwort, Proliferous Pink, Ragged Robin, Recurved Sandwort, Red Campion, Rock Sea-spurrey, Sand Catchfly, Sand Spurrey, Scottish Pearlwort, Sea Campion, Sea Mouse-ear, Sea Pearlwort, Sea Sandwort, Shetland Mouse-ear, Slender Pearlwort, Slender Sandwort, Small-flowered Catchfly, Smooth Rupturewort, Snow Pearlwort, Snow-in-summer, Spanish Catchfly, Spotted Catchfly, Spring Sandwort, Starwort Mouse-ear, Sticky Catchfly, Sticky Mouse-ear, Strapwort, Sweet William, Teesdale Sandwort, Three-nerved Sandwort, Thyme-leaved Sandwort, Upright Chickweed, Water Chickweed, White Campion, Wood Stitchwort

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Annual

Maximum Size:

40 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Farmland, gardens, grassland, meadows, riverbanks, roadsides, rocks, wasteland.

Flower:

White, 5 petals

5 tiny white unnotched petals, 5 styles. Flowers in leafless clusters with stems forked.

Fruit:

Green, smooth, egg-shaped and long capsules. The seeds are blackish and glossy.

Leaves:

The whorled leaves are thread-like, stalkless and furrowed beneath. They are greyish in colour. The stipules fall off early on in the season.

Aroma:

Flowers are fragrant.

Other Names:

Beggarweed, Bottlebrush, Corn Spurry, Cowquake, Devil's Gut, Dodder, Farmer's Ruin, Field Spurrey, Franke, Fraud Flax, Granyagh, Lousy Grass, Make-beo-oar, Mountain Flax, Pick-pocket, Pickpurse, Pine Chest, Poverty Weed, Sandweed, Starwort, Stickwort, Surrey, Toadflax, Yarr, Yarrel.

Frequency (UK):

Common

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map