Cucubalus

Cucubalus

 

a genus of plants of the family Caryophyllaceae. There is only one species, the berry-bearing chick-weed (Cucubalus baccifer). It is a perennial herb with a branching and either slightly raised or flat-lying stem 0.5-2 m long and with opposite entire leaves. The flowers are single, bisexual, and comparatively large, with greenish-white petals. The fruit is spherical and berry-like. The plant grows in moist places between shrubs, in shady forests and gardens, and along the banks of rivers and bodies of fresh water. It is found in Eurasia. In the USSR it occurs in the central and southern zones of European Russia, in the Caucasus, in Western Siberia, in Kazakhstan, and in the Far East.