Blue Field Madder

(Sherardia arvensis)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: NRCS Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Blue Field Madder (Sherardia arvensis L.)

Alien: Native of Europe.

Identification: Flowers small, pink to lavender, with a long, tubular corolla and 4 sharp pointed petal lobes. Flowers arranged in terminal clusters. Stems prostrate on the ground. Leaves dark green, elongate and pointed, arranged in whorls of 4 to 6 leaves. Plant 3 to 10 inches in length.

Distribution: Found in scattered populations throughout most of eastern North America. Also occurs in scattered western states.

Habitat: Blue Field Madder is a plant of disturbed areas such as fields, empty lots, and roadsides.

Flowering period: May to September.

Similar Species: Blue Field Madder has all the markings of a species of Galium (bedstraws), but the flowers are pink to lavender, not white or yellow.

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