This sterile clone is a European cultigen that has locally persisted or escaped. It is a hybrid of arvensis (2n = 72) and spicata (2n = 48) with intermediate chromosome number (2n = 60); other hybrids of these species have different chromosome numbers (from 54 to 120). See Tucker & Fairbrothers (1990) for analysis of its hybrid origin. The epithet "gentilis" has been applied to these plants, but M. gentilis L. is a synonym of the northern and eastern European M. arvensis ssp. parietariaefolia (Becker) Briq. (Tucker & Nazci 2007).