Home Weed ID Publications Dictionary Links FAQs Login About us		Plant Description: Name: parsley-piert Scientific Name: Aphanes microcarpa Family: Rosaceae Type: Broadleaf Lifecycle: Winter Annual Habit: Plants germinate in fall and early spring and bloom from May to August. Often overlooked, parsley piert grows among the turfrass canopy or in thin areas of turf. Plants are most conspicuous in spring in areas of dormant bermudagrass or zoysiagrass. Leaves: The leaves are of a dusky green color, wedge-shaped, three-cleft, the lobes deeply cut, the whole leaf less than 1/2 inch wide, narrowed into a short foot-stalk with leafy, palmately-cut stipules, sheathing and cleaving to the footstalk. The stem is sometimes prostrate, but generally erect, and much branched from the base. Plants are rarely more than 4 inches tall. Leaf Arrangement: Alternate Characteristics: Plants are very small and inconspicuous. Leaves have deep lobes and often grow in a thick clustered mat. Plant parts may be sparsley or completely hairy. Flower Seed Head: The greenish, minute and stalkless flowers are crowded together in tufts almost hidden by the leaves and their large stipules. There is no corolla, the stamens, which have jointed filaments, being inserted at the mouth of the calyx, which is usually four-cleft. Plants bloom from May to August. Seed Fruit: Seeds are produced continuously during the flowering period. Achenes are 0.6 mm long and enclosed in a pubescent hypanthium. Where Found: Parsley piert is widely distributed throughout Europe and North Africa and has been introduced into North America. In the United States, plants are common from Maryland through Tennesee and into Georgia in lawns, fields, and pastures, especially on sandy soils. Control Options Related Plants Terms and Definitions Additional Images:
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