Starry pillow - Stickwort

This was the prettiest weed I saw few days ago on a little mushroom hunting walk. There is not many things in bloom right now and it is mostly just green or dry. I was quite amazed to see the pillows of fresh green with hundreds of tiny little stars on as I would normally see them later in spring.

Spergula arvensis

There is a few common names for this plant: starwort, stickwort, corn spurrey, Devil's gut, sandweed, pine-cheat. If you think of where the names comes from and know how the plant looks like or what properties it has, it will be easier to remember the name.

For example Devil's gut could have been given because the plant can be toxic if consumed in large quantities by animals.
Pine-cheat probably comes from the look of the leaves. They are thin and long like the ones from pine trees. I suppose young plant, before it blooms looks like a very young pine sprout.

Makes sense? I think so :)

This is quite a common weed around the world and it spreads easily and will grow in all kinds of conditions. Around here it does pretty well on sandy soils in full sun. They bloom now and until summer when most plants give up and just die :p At least here. In milder climates it can flower until early fall.

The annual plant is about 20 cm tall, the flowers are not more than 1 cm across. They will bloom like this for weeks and while one flower fades and starts to form seed pod, another one will open. Thousands of seeds then is spread by the wind on a large area. And here is a fun fact: the seeds can stay dug up in the soil for a few years before they get the right conditions to germinate.

You can see the stems carrying spent flowers that will turn to pods, ones in full bloom and plenty of little buds.

Hundreds and hundreds of little starts.

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_{Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.}