Annual herb 10 - 40 cm long
Stem: angled, forking, slightly hairy.
Leaves: opposite, minutely hairy along margin and sometimes short-haired, with the lower leaves more or less stalked and broadly inverted lance-shaped. The other leaves are stalkless, 1 - 7 cm long, 3 - 18 mm wide, oblong, and toothless or with a few teeth near the base.
Flowers: borne terminally in a small compact cluster (glomerule), subtended by spoon-shaped bracts that are hairy along the margins, 1.5 - 2 mm across, with minute or absent sepals, white to pale bluish petals fused into a five-lobed funnel shape, and three stamens.
Fruit: dry, yellowish, 2 - 4 mm long, three-chambered with one chamber fertile and one-seeded and the other chambers empty. The fertile chamber has a thick corky mass on its back.
Similar species: Valerianella species have non- or few-toothed stem leaves and tiny or absent calyx lobes. Neither Valerianella chenopodifolia nor Valerianella umbilicata have fruit with a corky mass on the fertile chamber.
Flowering: mid May to early June
Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe, this species is rare in disturbed areas.
Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native
Etymology: Valerianella is a diminutive of Valeriana, referring to the similarity between the two genera. Locusta means "growing in an enclosed area."
Author: The Morton Arboretum
