Four-leaved allseed
Polycarpon tetraphyllum
Family · Caryophyllaceae · Harmless
The tiny herb growing in pavement joints and at wall bases, with leaves in crosses of four and flowers so small you need a lens. It is everywhere and nobody sees it.
Where it grows
Town and roadside · Walls and rocks · Roadsides and waste ground · Dunes and sand
Also known asallseed
In flower
How to tell it
Leaves set in groups of four, crosswise, along thin trailing stems, which gives the name. Tiny whitish flowers in loose clusters, with silvery translucent bracts. A plant of a few centimetres.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No use. It is here for one reason only: it is the most trodden plant in Portugal and it deserves a name.