I’M A WEED

Pimpernels

Pimpernels (scarlet or blue)

Anagallis arvensis

Annual creeping herb with foursided stems forming mats up to 1 m across. The shiny, rounded, bright green leaves are stalkless, arranged opposite each other, are 0.4-2 cm long by 0.3-1.5 cm wide. Flowers are small, fivelobed, about 0.8 cm across, flat, bright pinkish-orange (or blue) on slender stalks, and only open in bright sunshine, from August to November. Fruit is a small, spherical capsule, 0.4-0.6 cm in
diameter. Found mainly in disturbed areas.

Pimpernels

Threat / Problem
• Fast-growing invader of disturbed areas and poisonous to stock.

Spread
• Reproduces from seed, spread by wind, water and soil movement.

Control
• Spot spray with approved herbicide before setting seed.

Blue Pimpernels

GROW ME INSTEAD

Blue Spike Milkwort

Blue-spike Milkwort

Comesperma calymega

Erect perennial herb often with a woody rootstock. Stem is slender, striate (with longitudinal striping), simple or sometimes branched from the base, 0.1-0.5 m tall. Leaves are usually scattered, stalkless, linear, 0.4-2.5 cm long by 0.1-0.4 cm wide, often clasping the stem.

The small, deep blue-purple flowers that form from October to January, in a terminal spike 2-10 cm long, have three petals 0.3-0.4 cm long. Fruit is an elongated capsule 0.7-0.9 cm long. Found in woodland, on flats, rocky outcrops and low dunes.

Blue Spike Milkwort