Common name:
Shepherd's-needle
Family:
Scientific name:
Scandix pecten-veneris
Main flower color:
Range:
Across most of England but only locally common. Less widespread in Wales, Scotland and Ireland
Height:
Up to 50 cm
Habitat:
Arable fields, often on calcareous soils
Flowers:
Tiny, white, with five unnotched petals, often different in size, with one noticeably larger. In small, flat-topped umbels, one or two per stem. Beneath each umbel is a ring of green, lanceolate bracteoles, divided towards the tip, and lined by short, bristly hairs. Umbels typically contain around six flowers
Fruit:
Clusters of needle-like cylinders, up to 7 cm long
Leaves:
Pinnately divided 2 or 3 times into short, nearly linear lobes, pointed at the tip. Sparsely short-hairy, around the lobe tips
Season:
May to July
Rarity:
★★★★★
