Polypremum procumbens L.

Juniper Leaf; Rustweed

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Rustweed is a native herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial in the Polypremum family (Tetrachondraceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Rustweed grows in sandhills, in fallow fields, on dunes, on sand bars, along roadsides, and in other disturbed open sites. It is an annual or short lived perennial with a tap root. The stems are decumbent to erect and radiate from the crown. Stems are square, green or reddish brown in color, and glabrous. Leaves are opposite, sessile, linear in outline, entire, and glabrous. Flowers are solitary and sessile in the axils of the branches. Each flower has a 4-lobed green calyx that is united only at the base. The lobes are linear and about as long as the corolla. The corolla is white in color and campanulate with 4 lobes. The corolla is pubescent in the throat. The fruit is a capsule. Rustweed gets its common name due to the reddish-brown color plants turn in the autumn.—A. Diamond

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Native FACU- (NWPL)

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