Flaxleaf pimpernel
Lysimachia linum-stellatum
Family · Primulaceae · Harmless
The tiny annual whose white five-pointed star flowers last a few hours and go entirely unnoticed. What stays visible is the calyx, much larger than the flower, persisting as a green star.
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Scrubland · Dunes and sand
Also known asstar pimpernel
How to tell it
A plant of a few centimetres, with narrow opposite leaves like a miniature flax. Very long, pointed green sepals spread in a star, with a tiny white flower in the middle or already gone.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No use
It is a cousin of scarlet pimpernel and Montpellier coris, and shows well the variety of forms a small family can take.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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