Valerianella pumila, (L.) DC.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 49

4. V. pumila (L.) DC. in Lam. & DC., Fl. Fr. ed. 3, 4: 242 (1805)

( V. tridentata (Steven) Betcke ).

Up to 40 cm. Lower cauline leaves narrowly spathulate to ovate, obtuse, entire to sinuate-dentate; middle cauline spathulate-lanceolate, usually coarsely toothed; upper cauline linear-lanceolate, pinnatisect at base. Bracts more or less narrowly ovate, scarious, setose. Fruits c. 3 mm, in more or less dense, hemispherical, terminal clusters and often also solitary in the dichotomies immediately below them, falling separately, hemispherical, obtusely 3-angled and the side with the sterile loculi flattened, usually glabrous, rarely villous; sterile loculi much larger than the fertile, extending to base of fruit, separated by an elliptical to ovate area, or an irregular groove. Calyx usually reduced to an indistinct, narrow rim, sometimes shortly cupuliform, irregularly 4- to 6-toothed, sometimes coroniform, shorter than or as long as the fruit, divided to about the middle into 6 triangular-acuminate teeth, each with an uncinate mucro or arista at the apex. 2л= 14. S. Europe, extending northwards to Hungary. Bu Co Ga Gr Hs Hu It Ju Lu Rm Rs (W, K) Si Tu. Variable especially in the development of the calyx. Plants from various parts of Europe with the calyx shorter than the fruit and divided into 6 equal teeth, each tooth with an uncinate mucro at the apex, have been called V. brachystephana (Ten.) Bertol., Fl. Ital. 1: 193 (1833) ( Fedia brachystephana Ten. ); plants from S. Italy (prov. Potenza) with the calyx shorter than the fruit and divided into 5 unequal teeth, each with a mucro at the apex, have been called V. laticuspis Bertol. , FI. Ital. 1: 856 (1834); plants fromE. France (Hautes-Alpes) with a very short cupuliform calyx divided into 4-6 unequal teeth have been called V. cupulifera Le Grand , Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 44: 219 (1897); the status of these 3 taxa is obscure.