WorldFloraDB - Herniaria hirsuta

Characteristics

Herbs, annual with slender tap root, shortly patent-hispid. Stems prostrate, greyish or light green, 1–20 cm long. Leaves ± sessile; upper leaves often alternate, obovate-elliptic to oblanceolate, ciliate, 3–10 mm long, 0.6–2.5 mm wide; stipules broad to very broad, scarious, ciliate. Inflorescence clusters ± globular, leaf-opposed or contiguous, 6–12-flowered; bracts scarious, ciliate. Flower pedicels very short to absent. Sepals 5, 1–1.5 mm long, unequal (± equal in var. hirsuta), ± concavo-convex, green, ± densely bristly, at least the lower bristles uncinate (straight in var. hirsuta). Petals white, minute, filiform. Stamens 2 (–4) (usually 5 in var. hirsuta). Styles 2. Achene 0.6–0.8 mm long, ovoid-globose. Seeds 0.5–0.7 mm diam., dark reddish brown, smooth, glossy.

More

Plants annual, gray-green, densely pubescent. Stems prostrate to ascending, 4-20 cm. Leaves opposite proximally, often alternate distally; stipules 0.5-1.3 mm; blade elliptic to oblanceolate, 3-12 mm, hirsute or ciliate, ad-axial surface sometimes glabres-cent. Inflorescences axillary, leaf-opposed or on short branches, mostly 3-8-flowered. Flowers 0.9-1.8 mm, densely pubescent; calyx burlike; sepals equal or somewhat unequal, 0.8-1.5 mm, hirsute, hairs of perigynous zone hooked or tightly coiled, each sepal with 1-2 spinelike hairs at apex; stamens 2-3 or 5; staminodes petaloid, 0.4-0.6 mm; styles distinct or connate in proximal 1/3. Utricles 0.7-0.9 mm, ca. equaling sepals. 2n = 18, 36 (Europe).

A slender annual otherwise resembling H. incana, has been collected (as an introduction from Europe) in Md.

Life form

annual

Growth form

herb

Growth support

free-standing

Foliage retention

-

Sexuality

hermaphrodite

Pollination

entomogamy

Spread

barochory

Mature width (meter)

0.3

Mature height (meter)

0.04 - 0.09

Root system

tap-root

Rooting depth (meter)

-

Root diameter (meter)

-

Flower color

Blooming months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Fruit color

-

Fruiting months

-

Nitrogen fixer

-

Photosynthetic pathway

c3

Environment

Grows usually in poor sandy or clayey soils in arid areas.

More

Sandy ground.

Light
Soil humidity
Soil texture
Soil acidity
Soil nutriment
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

Uses	animal food experimental purposes medicinal
Edible	-
Therapeutic use	Cold (unspecified), Cold(Veterinary) (unspecified), Diuretic (unspecified), Narcotic (unspecified), Sore(Throat) (unspecified), Bot (unspecified), Pharyngitis (unspecified)
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.

Mode	seedlings
Germination duration (days)	10 - 12
Germination temperacture (C°)	21
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	-
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	-
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-