Field madder
Sherardia arvensis
Though much smaller than its famous relative, Common Madder, its roots can still be used to produce a delicate pink dye.
- Scientific name
- Sherardia arvensis
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Gentianales › Rubiaceae › Sherardia
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Disturbed soils, cultivated fields, pastures, lawns, and grassy roadsides.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (Photosynthesis)
- Range
- Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, North America, Australia
- Size
- Stems 5 to 40 cm long; flowers 2 to 3 mm in diameter.
- Lifespan
- Annual (less than 1 year)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Widespread herbicide use, intensive agricultural tilling, and loss of open meadow habitats to development.
- Safe to approach?
- This species is completely harmless. You can safely observe, touch, and photograph it up close. No precautions are necessary, though avoiding stepping on dense patches helps preserve the local micro-habitats.
Sherardia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. The genus contains only one species, viz. Sherardia arvensis or (blue) field madder , which is widespread across most of Europe and northern Africa as well as southwest and central Asia (from Turkey to Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan) and Macaronesia (Canary Islands, Azores, Madeira, Savage Islands). It is also reportedly naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Kerguelen, Ethiopia, Sudan, southern Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, South...
Photo: Gilles San Martin, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/3acee423-db14-4f73-97ea-48a3fa854fb1.md