Moehringia trinervia

Three Annoying Sandwort ( Moehringia trinervia )

The Three Annoying Sandwort ( Moehringia trinervia ) is a species of the carnation family ( Caryophyllaceae ).

Description

It is delicate, annual to biennial herbaceous plant that normally reach stature heights of 10 to 20 cm. Your all round short hairy stems are branched and ascending from the bottom to.

Best destination feature in the field are the egg-shaped, front pointed leaves that are almost always three, sometimes also have five clearly visible nerves, and also have given this plant its name.

The hermaphrodite, radial symmetry flowers are fairly inconspicuous. Altogether, the petals have a diameter of about 6 mm. The white petals are much shorter than the whitish -lined pointed sepals.

Chromosome number 2n = 24

Ecology

The Three Annoying Sandwort is a winterannueller to persistent Hemikryptophyt. The leaves have translucent dots that are caused by large, morning star Calziumoxalat like crystals, called drusen.

The flowers are weak vormännliche " nectar leading disk flowers ". Pollinators are bees and Diptera, but also spontaneous self-pollination is possible. Blooms from May to July.

The fruits are capsules which open with 6-8 umrollenden down teeth. The seeds have an oily Elaiosom that has arisen from a navel -like thickening of the seed stalk, and is used for ants spread. Fruit ripening from June to October.

Occurrence

They are found throughout Europe, except in the far north, and in most parts of temperate Asia.

This species grows in shady moist places in forests and thickets. In Central Europe it is very common, but their habit of chickweed easily overlooked because of their inconspicuous flowers and the great similarity.