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Lysimachia arvensis
Also called Poor Man's Weatherglass, Shepherd's Weatherglass, Common Scarlet Pimpernel, Poor Man's Weather Glass, Shepherd's Calendar, Shepherd's Weather Glass, Bird's Eye
Scarlet pimpernel is a low, creeping annual weed with small scarlet, orange, red or blue flowers that open in sunshine and close in dull weather, earning its nickname weather glass. It thrives in sunny, open, well-drained ground and is best grown as a ground cover or wildflower in a sunny border.
Lysimachia arvensis, syn. Anagallis arvensis, commonly known as scarlet pimpernel, red pimpernel, red chickweed, poor man's barometer, poor man's weather-glass, shepherd's weather glass or shepherd's clock, is a species of low-growing annual plant with brightly coloured flowers, most often scarlet but also bright blue and sometimes pink. The native range of the species is Europe and Western Asia and North Africa. The species has been distributed widely by humans, either deliberately as an ornamental flower or accidentally. L. arvensis is now naturalised almost worldwide, with a range that encompasses the Americas, Central and East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Malesia, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and Southern Africa.
This common European plant is generally considered a weed and is an indicator of light soils, though it grows opportunistically in clay soils as well.
Lysimachia monelli · Pimpernel · Manchurian yellow loosestrife · Fringed loosestrife · Gooseneck yellow loosestrife · Dense Flowered Loosestrife · Lysimachia ephemerum · Sea-milkwort · Creeping jenny · Dotted Loosestrife · Yellow Loosestrife
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lysimachia arvensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
