Keeled-fruited Cornsalad - Valerianella carinata

Low to medium hairless plant. Flowers pale pinkish or bluish, tiny in flat clusters.  Similar to other Cornsalads, but the fruits are deeply grooved.

other corn-salads

Ripe fruits are essential for identification; this plant cannot be verified from photos of the plant or flowers.

Fruit is about as thick as wide (squarish in x-section), and much longer than wide or thick, with a deep groove on the abaxial face (i.e to side furthest from the axis)

The fruits need to be photographed, showing the deep grooves, or the specimen needs to be checked by an expert

Walls, rocks and disturbed land.

Flowers April to June.

Annual.

Local north as far as Yorkshire, rare elsewhere.

Local and possibly increasing in Leicestershire and Rutland, but probably under-recorded in the past due to similarity to other corn-salads. In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 2 of the 617 tetrads.

In the VC55 checklist (Jeeves 2011) it is listed as Alien; archaeophyte.   

It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but does not meet the criteria for the current RPR (Hall and Woodward, 2022)