Suomi
Svenska
Three-Nerved Sandwort
Moehringia trinervia
Identify the Three-Nerved Sandwort from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.
Three-Nerved Sandwort is a small, delicate woodland plant with white starry flowers. It is usually annual or survives one winter and grows in shady, moist places. You can see it across much of Europe and in similar cool, damp habitats elsewhere.
Did you know?
- Ants carry its seeds away for the oily snack attached to each seed, helping the plant spread.
- Its name comes from the three strong veins clearly visible in each leaf.
About the species
Identification
A low, thin, much-branched plant 10–20 cm tall, with spreading or slightly rising stems. Leaves small (6–25 mm), narrow to egg-shaped, on short stalks, pointed, with three clear veins; edges and undersides softly hairy. White five‑petalled flowers sit singly at the tips; the green star behind the petals is longer than the petals. Fruits are tiny pods that open into six points; seeds are black. Compared with Common Chickweed, its leaves show three strong veins and the white petals are short and not deeply split. Flowers in Finland June–July.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
herb-rich forest
Flowering
Jun–Jul
About the habitat
Shady, fresh to moist woods, mossy rocks and stream banks; also appears in clearings, along tracks and other light gaps in woodland. Common in southern and central Finland, scarcer northwards up to the Oulu area.
Sources
Photo: DDutrey, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6479730775
Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Itämeri: rehevät rannikkometsät, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38038
Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38038
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehtoarho
