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| Practical ecological knowledge for the temperate reader. |
Spergula arvensis - Corn Spurry
- Family: Caryophyllaceae (Pinkfamily) [E-flora]
"Spergula arvensis is a ANNUAL growing to 0.5 m (1ft 8in). The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Flies, self.The plant is self-fertile.
Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils. Suitable pH: acid and neutral soils and can grow in very acid soils.
It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil." [PFAF]
Description
- "General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems prostrate to erect, several, branched, more or less glandular-hairy, yellowish-green, 10-60 cm tall/long." [IFBC-E-flora]
-
"Leaves:
Basal leaves few, soon deciduous; stem leaves in whorls of 6, narrowly linear, channelled beneath, 1.5-5 cm long, less than 1 mm wide, 1-nerved; stipules small, deciduous." [IFBC-E-flora]
- "Flowers:
Inflorescence of numerous and usually terminal flowers on branched clusters; petals 5, white, egg-shaped, 3-6 mm long; sepals 5, greenish, egg-shaped, 2-5 mm long, glandular-hairy." [IFBC-E-flora]
- "Fruits:
Capsules egg-shaped, 2.5-6 mm long, 5-valved; seeds black, plump, 1.2-1.5 mm long, minutely roughened." [IFBC-E-flora]
- "Habitat / Range:
Mesic to dry fields and waste places in the lowland and lower montane zones; common in SW BC, rare elsewhere in S BC; introduced from Eurasia." [IFBC-E-flora]
- Status: Exotic [E-flora]
Syn:
- Spergula arvensis subsp. arvensis L. [superfluous autonym] [E-flora][PFAF]
- Spergula arvensis subsp. sativa (Boenn.) Celak. [E-flora][PFAF]
- Spergula arvensis var. sativa (Boenn.) Mert. & Koch [E-flora]
- Spergula sativa Boenn. [E-flora][PFAF]
Hazards
"The seed, and probably also the leaves, contain saponins[105]. Although toxic, these substances are very poorly absorbed by the body and so tend to pass through without causing harm. They are also broken down by thorough cooking. Saponins are found in many plants, including several that are often used for food, such as certain beans. It is advisable not to eat large quantities of food that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish[K]." [PFAF]
Edible Uses
- Leaves & Young: "Leaves and young plants[105]. No more details are given." [PFAF]
- Seed: "Seed - cooked. It can be dried and ground into a meal then used with flour for making bread etc[2, 61, 106]. The seed is rich in oil[105]. A famine food, it is only used when all else fails[177]. The seed contains saponins so some caution is advised. See the notes above on toxicity. [PFAF]
"In Shetland, the seeds used to be ground into meal,
hence the name Meldi, which means meal (Grigson.
1955), and bread has been made from them in times
of scarcity in Scandinavia (C P Johnson)."[DPL Watts]
Other Use
- Fodder: "But the plant has been grown as a fodder crop (Murdoch McNeill), both in Britain and on the Continent,
and occasionally in South Africa (Watt & BreyerBrandwijk). Prior quotes a name, Franke, given to
this plant, from “the property it hath to fatten cattle,
franke being a stall in which cattle were shut up to be
fattened, or, as Halliwell put it, “ a small inclosure in
which animals (generally boars) were fattened”. Any
animal so shut up for fattening was said to be franked,
and the same term was used after fattening." [DPL Watts]
Medicinal Uses
- "...‘the country people in divers places say that
they have had good experience’ of speedily healing a cut by bruising the plant
and then laying it on.105 It is odd that there have been no later reports by
folklorists of this use. One of the plant’s vernacular names in Ulster is grangore or glengore, which, being Scots for syphilis, may imply a one-time
venereal reputation.106" [MPFT]
- Diuretic: "The plant has been used as a diuretic[240]." [PFAF]
Phytochemicals
- Spergula arvensis L. - Brisbane,Q - WP(Whole Plant) medium test result for alkaloids [20] [Alkaloids&ChemicalPerspectives V.10]
Cultivation
"Prefers a sandy lime-free soil[200] and a sunny position. A calcifuge plant, requiring a neutral to acid soil[17]. The flowers are only open in the morning." [PFAF]
"...too much
of it will make the soil fit for nothing else, and so
beggar the farmer, or that the presence of the plant
is a sure indication that the soil is no good anyway,
and will still beggar one." [DPL Watts]
Propagation
"Seed - sow spring or autumn in situ. Some seed germinates in the autumn in the wild while some germinates in the spring." [PFAF]
SPERGULA SPURREY
Family: Pink - Caryophyllaceae
"Annual, ascending to erect, taprooted. Leaf: opposite but appearing whorled due to axillary clusters of 16–30 per node; stipules 1–2 mm, ovate to triangular, entire, scarious, white; vein 1.
Inflorescence: terminal; flowers several to many; pedicels 40+ mm.
Flower: sepals 5, ± free, 2.5–5 mm, elliptic to ± ovate, glandular-hairy; petals 5, 2.5–4 mm, entire; stamens 5 or 10; styles 5, 0.3–0.6 mm.
Fruit: capsule, ovoid; valves 5, spreading to ± recurved.
Seed: several, ± black.
5 species: temperate Eurasia. (Latin: to scatter, from sowing seeds for early forage in Eur) [Hartman & Rabeler 2005 FNANM 5:14–16]" [Jepson2012]
Local Species;
- Spergula arvensis - corn-spurry [PCBC][E-flora]
References
Page last modified on
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 5:45 AM