Sagina procumbens
species of Sagina (pearlwort)

Sagina procumbens (procumbent pearlwort) is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native throughout Europe, most of western and central Asia, and northwest Africa. It is a common weed in many environments, and can be found in wild and disturbed habitat, especially moist areas. It can frequently be seen growing in lawns or in cracks in pavements, particularly in block paving, where it resists human trampling well, and is also common in flower pots.
Description
It is a perennial ground-hugging herb forming clumps or mats of hairless green herbage, sometimes vaguely resembling a patch of moss. The stems root readily at the stem nodes, enabling it to spread widely by vegetative reproduction. The leaves are linear, and up to 1–2 cm long. The inflorescence is a solitary, minute flower with four or five sepals and four or five small white petals, but the petals are sometimes absent; they have 4 free stigmas. The fruit is a small capsule which releases black seeds.
As an invasive species
Outside of its native range, it can be found widely across much of North and South America, and locally in northeast Asia. In 1998 numerous well-developed plants were found on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Gough Island, where it is an introduced species.
The public source identifies “Sagina procumbens” as species of Sagina (pearlwort). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sagina, procumbens and species.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Sagina procumbens”, the useful work is to connect “species of Sagina (pearlwort)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 8, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q158209. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1998.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sagina procumbens” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.