Spurrey, Corn

Information on Corn Spurrey

Common Name: Corn Spurrey
Scientific Name: Spergula arvensis
Irish Name: Corrán lín
Family Group: Caryophyllaceae
Distribution: View Map (Courtesy of the BSBI)
Flowering Period


Click for list of all flowering by month
Corn Spurrey is not easily confused with other wild plants on this web site.


Generally found on arable ground, tilled fields and sandy soils, this is a stickily hairy annual wildflower which has very small white flowers.  The flowers (4-7mm across) each have 5 styles, and 5 petals as long as the sepals.  Flowering from May to September, they are borne in forked cymes on straggly stems and the narrow leaves are arranged in whorls along these stems.  The plant grows to about 30cm high, is not a native plant and it belongs to the family Caryophyllaceae.  

I first identified this wildflower at Newcastle, Co Wicklow in 1978 and photographed it in a tilled field near Gibletstown, Co Wexford in 2007. 

If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre

This plant is frequently found growing in cereal and potato crops.  Until the last century it was used as a crop for animal fodder in Denmark and Germany. It is much loved by sheep.

Spurrey, Corn
Spurrey, Corn
Spurrey, Corn
Spurrey, Corn