Victorian Resources Online (archived)
Red Sand-Spurrey
| Red Sand-spurrey photos | Family: Chickweed (Caryophyllaceae) |
| Scientific Name: | Spergularia rubra | ||||||
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.
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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 |
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