Valerianella radiata

Valerianella radiata typically grows to a high of 0.6 m (2 ft).[2] Flowers are perfect.[3] Has 5 white flower petals that are arranged bilaterally symmetrical with fused sepals.[3] Simple, entire, and toothed[3] leaves with opposite arrangement of two leaves per node on stem.[4] It has a stamen count of three that produces dry fruit 2 - 2.5 mm long.[4] It has a pistil count of one with three carpels, inferiors ovary with 3 locales and one ovule, slightly 3-lobed stigmas.[3] Valerianella radiata has a corolla length of less than 2 mm.[5] The fruit is usually yellowish and glabrous to finely pubescent and the fertile cells are slightly narrower than sterile cells.[6] A groove forms between the narrow and fertile sides of the fruit.[6] It is a self-fertile plant due to having both male and female organs.[2] Stems are hollow and ascend to erect, dichotomously branching (an important diagnostic character), angled, and glabrous to sparse pubescence on stem wing margins.[3] Basal leaves are sessile, short-petiolate, spatulate, obovate with bases fused around the stem, glabrous along margins and midvein of the undersurface.[3] Inflorescences are clusters that are small, dense, and usually paired on branch tips that have lanceolate bracts to narrowly elliptic.[3]

Valerianella radiata distribution is in deciduous forest regions of the eastern United States.[7] This species is commonly found in creek beds, roadsides, ditches, clearings, hilltops, and pasture lands.[7] Valerianella radiata can be found in areas ranging from moderate shade to full sunlight exposure.[5] Valerianella radiata may be present in Japan as an introduced plant. [8]

It is listed as a special concern and believed extirpated in Connecticut,[9] and listed as endangered in New Jersey. It is listed as a weed in other parts of the United States.[1]

Valerianella radiata is an annual, meaning that it grows from a seed, produces seeds, and dies all within a growing season, leaving dormant seeds.[10] Valerianella radiata has funnelform flowers which commonly leads to inbreeding.[7] This species has two varieties: var. radiata and var. fernaldii[7]. Valerianella radiata was originally described by Linnaeus [7] but was later renamed by Dufresne, Pierre.[11]  

Valerianella radiata herbarium sheet.

This plant is not known to be toxic.[2]

Young raw leaves and the roots of the plant are edible.[2] Roots of plant are an unlikely food source due to their minuscule size.[2]

Valerianella radiata is a common weed found in some gardens of the southeastern United States due to suitability in many types of soils and pH levels.[2] Applications of 0.11 kg glyphosate/ha was used to controlled V. radiata in non-crop situations[12].