Arenaria serpyllifolia subsp. serpyllifolia
Thyme-leaved SandwortAnnual or biennial with slender, branching taproot, minutely scabrous, rarely sparsely glandular-hairy above. Stems diffuse but often bushy, 2–30 cm long. Leaves sessile or subsessile, 1-veined, ciliate, 3–5(–10) mm long, 2–3(–6) mm wide. Inflorescence usually diffuse; bracts herbaceous. Flowers 5–8 mm diam.; pedicels 2–5 mm long, more or less erect in fruit; calyx scabrous, sparsely glandular-puberulent, sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute, hairy, 3–5-veined, the inner scarious-margined, 3–4 mm long; petals white, ovate to narrow-obovate, two-thirds length of sepals. Capsule urceolate-ampulliform with firm, curved walls, 4–5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm diam; seeds black or dark red, bluntly tuberculate, 0.5–0.7 mm long. Oct.
VVP, GipP, OtP, WaP, EGU, WPro. Native to Europe, temperate Asia, North America. A rather uncommon weed of disturbed ground.
This species and A. leptoclados have been much confused in the past, being difficult to distinguish without mature fruit.
Adams, L.G. (1996). Caryophyllaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 228–271. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
