11-4-2020 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - SCARLET PIMPERNEL (Lysimachia arvensis)

26-4-2019 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - SCARLET PIMPERNEL (Lysimachia arvensis)

Lysimachia arvensis, syn. Anagallis arvensis, commonly known as scarlet pimpernel, red pimpernel, red chickweed, poor man's barometer, poor man's weather-glass, shepherd's weather glass or shepherd's clock, is a species of low-growing annual plant with brightly coloured flowers, most often scarlet but also bright blue and sometimes pink. The native range of the species is Europe and Western Asia and North Africa. The species has been distributed widely by humans, either deliberately as an ornamental flower or accidentally. L. arvensis is now naturalised almost worldwide, with a range that encompasses the Americas, Central and East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Malesia, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and Southern Africa.

This common European plant is generally considered a weed and is an indicator of light soils, though it grows opportunistically in clay soils as well. The origin of the name pimpernel comes from late Middle English pympernele [1400–50], derived from Middle French pimprenelle, from Old French piprenelle, and ultimately from Vulgar Latin *piperīnella (piper 'pepper' + -īn- '-ine' + -ella diminutive suffix).

The flower serves as the emblem of the fictional hero the Scarlet Pimpernel.

When found as a summer annual, the scarlet pimpernel has a low-growing creeping habit, but as a winter annual, it forms a half-rosette with an upright stem. It has weak sprawling stems with square cross-section growing to about 5–30 centimetres (2–12 in) long. They bear bright green, soft, ovate sessile leaves in opposite pairs. The orange, red or blue, radially symmetric flowers, about 10–15 millimetres (0.4–0.6 in) in diameter, are produced singly in the leaf axils from spring to autumn. The petal margins are somewhat crenate and have small glandular hairs. The stamens have lollipop hairs and therefore attract a variety of pollinators, especially flies, but the flowers are also capable of autopollination. The dehiscent capsule fruits ripen from August to October in the northern hemisphere. The weight of the fruiting body bends the stem, and the seeds are transported by the wind or rain. Blue-flowered plants (treated as L. arvensis f. azurea by some sources) are common in some areas, such as the Mediterranean region, and should not be confused with the related blue pimpernel, Lysimachia foemina. In 2007, a molecular phylogenetic study showed that Lysimachia foemina is more closely related to Lysimachia monelli than to Lysimachia arvensis, and should be treated as a separate species (all three species were then placed in Anagallis). The species has a diploid chromosome count of 2n=40.

Scarlet pimpernel flowers open only when the sun shines, and even close in overcast conditions. This habit leads to names such as "shepherd's weather glass". It has been observed along the verges of salted roads, creating a broad red band along the roadside.

12-3-2019 OLIVA, VALENCIA - SCARLET PIMPERNEL (Lysimachia arvensis)

9-3-2019 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - SCARLET PIMPERNEL (Lysimachia arvensis)