Hairy sand-spurrey

Spergula villosa Persoon, Syn. Pl. 1: 522. 1805

Plants strongly perennial with branched, woody base, stout, 11-30 cm, stipitate-glandular in inflorescence or throughout. Taproots becoming stout, woody. Stems erect to ascending, often arcuately so, much-branched proximally; main stem 0.4-1.3 mm diam. proximally. Leaves: stipules ± conspicuous, dull white, broadly lance-acuminate, 3-8 mm, apex mucronate; blade filiform to linear, 1-4.2 cm, somewhat fleshy, apex apiculate or spine-tipped; axillary leaves 2-4 per cluster. Cymes simple to 3-compound. Pedicels spreading to reflexed in fruit. Flowers: sepals connate 0.5-0.7 mm proximally, lobes 1- or 3-veined, lance-ovate to lanceolate, 2.5-4 mm, to 5 mm in fruit, margins 0.1-0.6 mm wide, apex acute to acuminate but often briefly rounded at tip; petals white, ± elliptic, 0.7-0.8 times as long as sepal; stamens 7-10; styles 0.4-0.6 mm. Capsules greenish to tan, (4-)5-6.5 mm, 1.1-1.3 times as long as sepals. Seeds reddish brown to dark brown, often with submarginal groove, broadly ovate, plump, 0.4-0.5 mm, smooth, often sculptured with parallel, wavy lines, papillae often present; wing often present, white, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, margins irregular.

Flowering spring. Sandy slopes and bluffs, clay ridges and plains, disturbed areas; 0-500 m; introduced; Calif., Oreg.; Mexico (Baja California); South America (Chile?).