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Annual pearlwort

Sagina apetala

Also called Dwarf Pearlwort

Annual pearlwort
Photo: Robert Steers/NPS, CC0

Annual pearlwort is a tiny, short-lived weed of disturbed ground, cracks in paving and bare soil, rarely grown on purpose. It completes its life in one season from seed, so it needs little care beyond a sunny, open spot if you want it.

Family
Caryophyllaceae (Pink & carnation family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep the soil lightly moist while seedlings establish, then let it dry between waterings.
Soil
Any light, well-drained soil or gritty mix; it tolerates poor, disturbed ground.
Temperature
10–20 °C; tolerates light frost but dies off in hard cold.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Europe to NW. India, Macaronesia, N. Africa to Ethiopia
Climate
temperate

About

Sagina apetala is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names annual pearlwort and dwarf pearlwort. It is native to Europe and it is known elsewhere as an introduced species, including parts of North America. It grows in many types of disturbed habitat, such as cracks in the sidewalk. It is a petite annual herb producing a threadlike stem just a few centimeters long, spreading or growing erect. The plant is glandular and somewhat hairy. The leaves are linear in shape and not more than about a centimeter long. The inflorescence is a solitary flower borne on a threadlike pedicel. The flower has usually four sepals and generally no petals.

Other Sagina plants

Procumbent Pearlwort · Awl-leaf pearlwort

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sagina apetala 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.

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