大爪草 da zhua cao

Spergula linicola Boreau ex Nyman; S. maxima Weihe; S. sativa Boenninghausen; S. vulgaris Boenninghausen.

Plants annual. Stems (7--)13--50(--60) cm, pilose, apically glandular hairy. Stipules triangular-ovate, small, soon deciduous. Leaf blade linear, (1.1--)1.5--4 cm × 0.5--0.7 mm, abaxially channeled, glabrous or glandular pubescent, apex acute. Cymes lax, at first dichasial, upper branches monochasial. Pedicel 1.5--2.5 cm, slender. Sepals ovate, 3(--5) mm, glandular pub-scent, apex subacute to obtuse. Petals obovate, slightly shorter than to slightly longer than sepals, apex obtuse. Stamens 10, shorter than ovary. Ovary ovoid; style extremely short; stigmas 5. Capsule ovoid, ca. 4 mm in diam., slightly longer than sepals. Seed gray-black, subglobose, slightly compressed, 1--2 mm, both surfaces often with minute, pale, club-shaped papillae, margin with narrow wing. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug.

Grasslands, riverbanks. SW Guizhou, N Heilongjiang, Shandong, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Russia, Sikkim; N Africa, SW Asia, Europe, North America].

This plant is a weed of wheat fields, and is used as fodder.