This is a very common annual which can flower as early as February but which is usually in full flower by March. It tends to grow on paths or where there isn't so much tall vegetation as it rarely reaches more than a few centimetres tall. The flowers are very small sometimes less than 2 mm across. There are two sub species and the pale anthers show that this is ssp lucorum. The anthers on ssp hederifolia are distinctly blue but those on ssp lucorum are white or confusingly pale blue.

This is a very common plant in the south of the U.K. in other words throughout England and Wales but the distribution thins appreciably by the Scottish border and it isn't common in northern Scotland. In Ireland it is most often found in the south.