Valantia hispida L.
An annual with erect, ascending or decumbent, much-branched stems up to 20 cm long. Stems four-angled, hairless on the lower parts and densely hairy on the upper parts. Leaves 1 to 13 mm long, elliptical, lanceolate or obovate, hairless or with rough-hairy margins, in whorls of 4. Flowers greenish-yellow whitish, about 0.6 mm across, in threes, in dense axillary clusters. The middle flower of the three hermaphrodite, with four lobes; the lateral ones male, with three lobes. Peduncles and pedicels curve downwards, thicken and harden, enclosing the fruit, forming a structure between 2 and 5 mm long, with 2 to 3 horns, covered with spines on the back. Fruit generally with 2 mericarps.
Local: Not common in Gibraltar. Found mainly from Breakneck and Lord Airey’s Batteries down to Levant Battery, and along Charles V Road
Global: Found in southern Europe, north Africa and south-west Asia.
Flowers from March, April to May (June).
Grows on sandy ground, waste ground, rocky habitats.