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Family: Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Mid-Atlantic bloom time:
February - May
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe:
March - April
Whitlow-grass is an early-flowering annual with a basal rosette of hairy leaves and one or more leafless flowering stems. Its tiny flowers are 24 mm wide and have four white petals, each deeply divided in two, making almost appear to have eight petals. Its seeds are flattened and oval to elliptical and form immediately after flowering while the petals are still present. The combination of four tiny bifid petals and leafless stems makes this species relatively easy to identify.
Whitlow-grass is native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.