Scarlet Pimpernel is a prostrate annual with pale scarlet flowers which bloom from May to October. Each little flower (10-15mm across) consists of five overlapping petals which have hairy margins. The shiny, oval shaped leaves grow in pairs along the straggling, square stems and have little black dots on their underside. The fruits in autumn develop into little capsules full of tiny seeds, which when ripe, are tossed about into the breeze when the top half of the capsule becomes detached. The plant is a weed of cultivation and is often found on waste ground and light soils. On occasions, the flower colour can be pink, lilac or blue. There is also a subsp. Anagallis arvensis ssp. foemina which is blue and on which the petal edges are hairless. Scarlet Pimpernel is a native plant belonging to the family Primulaceae.
I first found this wildflower in Roundwood, Co Wicklow in 1976 and photographed it in Gibletstown, Co Wexford in 2005.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
