Photographs: Ardmore, Co. Waterford

Slender Parsley-piert Aphanes australis Mionán Muire caol Family: Rosaceae Flowering May - August. Annual. Native. Very similar to Parsley Piert, A. arvensis but smaller and more slender. Tiny stalkless, greenish-yellow flowers in the leaf axils with 4 sepals but no petals. Large stipules, divided halfway into lobes, surround the sepals. Fruit have small calyx teeth and the seeds usually germinate in the winter. Hairy, fan-shaped leaves with deep lobes. Widespread on acidic gravelly or sandy soils on dunes, gravel-pits, roadsides and dry rocky ground. Identified by Paul Green

Slender Parsley-piert, Aphanes australis, Mionán Muire caol