Red Sand-spurrey

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Scientific Name: Spergularia rubra
Photo: Sandspurrey
Photograph courtesy of Viridans Biological Databases (external link)

Other Common Name:
Sand-spurrey, Red Spurrey

Status:
Native to Europe. Naturalised in all Australian states and in New Zealand.

Plant Description:
Slender annual or biennial forb with a slender or sometimes woody taproot. Stems from 5-30 cm long that largely spread along the ground. Leaves are fleshy, grey-green, and strongly whorled, narrow linear with a prominent awn at the apex. Stipules are acuminate and conspicuously silvery. Flowers have 5 pink petals, 2.4-4 mm long and similar in length or slightly shorter than the sepals. There are 6–10 stamens. The fruit is a globular capsule, 4–5 mm long, containing wingless dark red-brown to grey-brown seeds from 0.4-0.6 mm long.

Habitat:
Found in almost all vegetation communities and on most soil types, and is a useful coloniser of bare ground.

Comments:
A number of Sea- or Sand-spurrey species occur in Victoria and can be difficult to tell apart. A simplified key to Spergularia species can be accessed here – Key to species

Red Sand-spurrey - flower Photo: A J Brown	Red Sand-spurrey - flower buds Photo: A J Brown	Red Sand-spurrey - flower buds Photo: A J Brown
Red Sand-spurrey - leaves Photo: A J Brown	Red Sand-spurrey - leaves Photo: A J Brown	Red Sand-spurrey - capsule with seed Photo: A J Brown

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Scientific Name:	Spergularia rubra	Photograph courtesy of Viridans Biological Databases (external link)
Other Common Name:	Sand-spurrey, Red Spurrey
Status:	Native to Europe. Naturalised in all Australian states and in New Zealand.
Plant Description:	Slender annual or biennial forb with a slender or sometimes woody taproot. Stems from 5-30 cm long that largely spread along the ground. Leaves are fleshy, grey-green, and strongly whorled, narrow linear with a prominent awn at the apex. Stipules are acuminate and conspicuously silvery. Flowers have 5 pink petals, 2.4-4 mm long and similar in length or slightly shorter than the sepals. There are 6–10 stamens. The fruit is a globular capsule, 4–5 mm long, containing wingless dark red-brown to grey-brown seeds from 0.4-0.6 mm long.
Habitat:	Found in almost all vegetation communities and on most soil types, and is a useful coloniser of bare ground.
Comments:	A number of Sea- or Sand-spurrey species occur in Victoria and can be difficult to tell apart. A simplified key to Spergularia species can be accessed here – Key to species