Common Whitlowgrass - Erophila verna

Very variable, low, slightly hairy plant, sometimes overwintering; stems leafless. Leaves lanceolate to elliptical, toothed in a basal rosette, and covered in sparse, often bifurcated, hairs. Flowers white, 3 to 5 mm, the petals deeply cleft. Fruit narrow, elliptical.

V small plant, basal leaf-rosette, hairy, petiole shorter than or equal to leaf blades

Photo of whole plant showing leaves

Stony places, pathways, sandy ground.

March to May.

Annual.

Common throughout most of Britain but seems to be scarcer in the south west.

Common and probably under recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 143 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, locally frequent