''Moehringia trinervia'', commonly known as apetalous sandwort or three-nerved sandwort, is a herbaceous

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Caryophyllaceae Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranth ...

. A native of

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

, it has been introduced into North America.

Description

Three-nerved sandwort is a small, slender, slightly

pubescent The adjective pubescent may describe: * people or animals undergoing puberty * plants that are hairy, covered in trichomes * insects that are covered in setae In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-lik ...

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

growing 10 – 40 cm tall.Rose F. 2006. ''The Wildflower Key''. Warne.Gibbons B, Brough P. 2008. ''Guide to Wildflowers of Britain and Northern Europe''. Philips The leaves are 6 – 25 mm longStreeter D, Hart-Davis C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. Collins Wildflower Guide. HarperCollins. with three conspicuous longitudinal veins, although some leaves may have up to five veins. The flowers measure approximately 6 mm in diameter, with each bearing ten

stamens The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

and three styles. The three-veined sepals are longer than the petals. The flowering period is April until July.

Habitat and distribution

The plant is widely distributed in Britain and much of mainland Europe, although it is absent from the

Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

, and

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

. It favours fertile, well-drained soils in old lowland deciduous woodland and hedgerows, occurring up to 425 m. In Britain, it is considered an

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). The practice of planting woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 i ...

indicator in southern England,

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

, and

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

.Niepołomice Forest found that three-nerved sandwort accumulated high amounts of heavy metals from pollutive industrial emissions in its tissues, especially of

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

. The conclusion was that a high level of heavy metal ions in three-nerved sandwort reflects levels of heavy metal pollutants in the soil and atmosphere, so that this plant may serve as a useful

bioindicator A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

of environmental pollution with such metals.Godzik B. 1992. ''Moehringia trinervia'' (L.) Clairv. – a bioindicator of heavy metal pollution in the environment. ''Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae'' 61 (3-4): 409 – 417.

Similar species

Three nerved sandwort superficially resembles

chickweed ''Stellaria media'', chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout the world, where it is a weed of waste ground, farmland and gardens. It is sometimes grown as a salad ...

but is distinguished from the latter by its deep longitudinal leaf veins and undivided petals. .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q159024 Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia trinervia