Scleranthus annuus
L. Annual KnawelLax, procumbent, annual with non-woody base. Stems to 13 cm long, hirsute with apparently multicellular hairs denser towards base. Leaves (4–)5–10(–14) mm long, 0.3–0.7(–1) mm wide, thickened, inrolled, basally hirsute, otherwise glabrous; apex acute; margin very narrow, scarious. Inflorescence a sessile cluster of many shortly pedicellate flowers; bracts basally hirsute; pedicels up to 0.8 mm long increasing to 1.0(–1.3) mm in fruit. Sepals 5, triangular, 1.2–2.2 mm long, 0.5–1.2 mm wide, overlapping at base, margin scarious, midrib keeled; stamens 2–7, enclosed within the calyx, caducous. Fruit distinctly ribbed, 10-nerved, 3.3–4.2 mm long, 0.9–1.8 mm wide. Flowers Oct.–Jan. (outside Victoria).
MuM, CVU, VAlp. Also naturalised NSW, Tas. Native to Europe, the Near East and North Africa, and naturalised in various parts of the world. Known in Victoria from only two collections, Trentham (1950) and near Nowingi (2014). In other States this species is often associated with volcanic soils in grasslands and woodlands from near sea-level to the alps, usually in otherwise rather bare sites.
The above description is based mainly on non-Victorian material.
Cowley, K.J.; West, J.G. (1996). Scleranthus. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 248–251. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
