Scleranthus annuus L.

Annual Knawel, German Knotgrass

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Annual Knawel is an introduced annual or biennial herbaceous plant in the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae). It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It can be found throughout Alabama. Annual Knawel grows in cemeteries, in lawns, in fallow fields, and in other sandy, disturbed sites. It is an annual or biennial from a taproot. The stems are prostrate, green in color, glabrous or minutely pubescent, and profusely branching. Leaves are sessile, opposite, linear in outline, entire, and glabrous. Leaf bases are joined at the nodes by a translucent membrane. Flowers are produced in terminal or axillary cymes. Individual flowers are sessile or subsessile, urceolate in outline with 5 green sepals with white margins and no petals. The fruit is an utricle. In herbal medicine Annual Knawel is included in Bach flower remedies directed at a particular characteristic or emotional state. It is utilized for the inability to choose between alternatives.—A. Diamond

**

Not Native FACU (NWPL)

**