Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Gooyooyaroo Nature Reserve, ACT

Flowering plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Flowering plant. Photo: Don Wood, south coast, NSW

Common Name

Scarlet Pimpernel; Blue Pimpernel; Pimpernel

Family

Primulaceae

Notes

Introduced annual or perennial forb, prostrate, stems to 50cm long, usually much less than 20cm tall, growing a little taller when growing amongst dense vegetation. Leaves opposite each other or sometimes in whorls of 3.  Leaves 0.4-2.5cm long, 3-15mm wide, flat, hairless, gland-dotted below. Flowers red to orange or blue, tubular, with 5 'petals', solitary on stalks arising from the bases of the leaves. Anagallis arvensis in NSW and SA.

Description and photo (as Anagallis arvensis) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales pages 546-547

PlantNET description (as Anagallis arvensis):  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Anagallis~arvensis

Weeds of Australia Biosecurity Queensland description (as Anagallis arvensis):  http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/03030800-0b07-490a-8d04-0605030c0f01/media/Html/Anagallis_arvensis.htm