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.
Where it grows
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Scrubland · Dunes and sand
Also known asstar pimpernel
In flower
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.