Aphanes arvensis Parsley-piert

Apanes arvensis, Parsley-piert, is a small, polyploid (2n=48), greyish-green, prostrate winter-annual which is found in dry, well-drained and often calcareous habitats. Small plants can be inconspicuous and easily overlooked. The shortly stalked, three-lobed leaves are deeply toothed and give plants a parsley-like appearance. It is very similar to the diploid (2n=16) Slender Parsley-piert (Aphanes australis) and the two can only be reliably differentiated by the form of the stipules that surround the inflorescences (and only when plants are in fruit). In Parsley-piert, the stipule lobes are triangular and short (no more than half of the entire portion) while those of Slender Parsley-piert are long-oblong (at least twice as long as the entire portion). Parsley-piert is generally a stouter plant, but intermediates also occur. It is probably over recorded for Slender Parsley-piert and all records of Aphanes in West Glamorgan might be more accurately assigned to Apanes arvensis agg. It has a predominently coastal distribution in West Glamorgan but it appears to be increassing along forest roads that have been dressed with limestone gravel.

Native