Phil Bendle Collection:Spergularia rubra (Red sand spurrey)

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae Genus: Spergularia
Species: S. rubra
Binomial name: Spergularia rubra
Synonym: Tissa rubra
Common names: Red sand spurrey, Red sandspurry, Sand spurrey, Field Sandwort Spurrey

Spergularia rubra is an annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial forb, sprawling, to 20cm tall. It is native to Europe and Asia, and it has been introduced throughout the world including New Zealand. It is a common weed found in the North and South islands of New Zealand. It grows in a wide variety of habitat types, including sandy soils in yards, paths, road margins, wasteland and sometimes near the shore if the soil is not salty.
It produces a slender, glandular stem up to 5-15 centimetres long. The stem is limp–ascending, branched from base and its upper part is often covered with glandular hairs. The stem is lined with flat, slightly fleshy, greyish green, linear or thread-like leaves, each 0.4-2.5cm long and to 1.2mm wide. They are hairless or sticky hairy and may be tipped with hard points or spines, and they are accompanied by shiny white lance-shaped stipules.
The purplish or pink flowers are 5–8 mm broad and have 5 (3-4 mm) petals. The round to oval petals occurs at the leaf axils and at the tips of the stems. They have hairy, glandular sepals. 
The fruit is an egg-shaped, greenish, 3-valved, 4–5 mm long capsule. The seeds are wingless. 

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A purple form
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The leaves.
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Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 

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