| Author | L. | |
| Distribution | Throughout the state, but scarce in the Mountains. The gap in the Coastal Plain is just an artifact of collecting.
Native of Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa. In N.A., from southern Canada south to FL, LA, OK, ID, CA. | |
| Abundance | Frequent to common in the Piedmont, Sandhills, and most of the Coastal Plain; rare to uncommon in the Mountains. Easily passed over, as the petals are absent or are seldom seen. | |
| Habitat | Dry sand and poor sandy soil of roadsides, fields, ballfields, lawn weed, driveways, gravel parking lots, waste ground, vacant lots, railroads, cemeteries. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting March-October. | |
| Identification | Annual Knawel is a poster child for "weed." It looks like a weed, lives in poor soils, the flowers are tiny and lack petals, and nothing about it attracts interest. It is low-growing, much-branched, prostrate, and tends to form small patches that at most reach a foot across. The leaves are numerous and linear, sharp-tipped. The inflorescences are in axils and terminal, the green sepals usually surpassed by bracts. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | | |
| Other Common Name(s) | | |
| State Rank | SE * | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACU link |
| USACE-emp | FACU link |
