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sabline á feuilles de serpolet, thyme-leaf sandwort

Livermore sandwort

Habit Plants annual. Plants perennial, matted, moss-like.
Taproots

filiform.

filiform.

Stems

1–100+, erect to ascending or sprawling, green, 3–40+ cm;

internodes terete to ellipsoid, 2–8 times as long as leaves, dull, retrorsely pubescent throughout, sometimes also stipitate-glandular.

15–25, decumbent, trailing, green, 1–4 cm;

internodes angular to grooved, 1–11/2 times as long as leaves, minute, shiny, pubescence of widely spreading to slightly retrorse hairs in 2 lines.

Leaves

often connate basally, with scarious or mostly herbaceous sheath 0.2–0.3 mm, petiolate (proximal leaves) or usually sessile;

petiole 1–4 mm;

blade 3–5 veined, elliptic to broadly ovate or rarely orbiculate, 2–7 × 1–4 mm, herbaceous, margins flat, herbaceous, dull, ciliate especially proximally, apex acute to acuminate, pustulate, sparsely minutely pubescent or glabrous;

axillary leaf clusters absent.

connate basally, with herbaceous sheath 0.1–0.2 mm, sessile;

blade 1-veined, vein prominent abaxially, linear, 4–6 × 1 mm, herbaceous, rigid, margins thickened, herbaceous, shiny, lined with peglike cilia, apex acute, pungent-tipped, not pustulate, glabrous;

axillary leaf clusters present.

Inflorescences

terminal, open, leafy, 3–50+-flowered cymes.

solitary flowers in distal leaf axils.

Pedicels

erect or ascending in fruit, 1–12 mm, retrorsely pubescent.

erect or ascending in fruit, 6–10 mm, minutely pubescent.

Flowers

sepals green, often prominently 3-veined, not keeled, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate (herbaceous portion narrowly elliptic to broadly lanceolate), 2–3 mm, to 4 mm in fruit, apex narrowly acute to acuminate, ± minutely pustulate, stipitate-glandular;

petals oblong, 0.6–2.7 mm, 1/5–3/4 times as long as sepals, apex obtuse to rounded.

sepals green, 1-veined, slightly keeled proximally, broadly lanceolate (herbaceous portion narrowly lanceolate), 3–4 mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex acute to acuminate, not pustulate, glabrous;

petals absent;

stamens ca. 8.

Capsules

loosely enclosed by calyx, ovoid to cylindric-ovoid, 3–3.5 mm, 4/5–11/5 times as long as sepals.

very loosely enclosed by calyx, ovoid, 2–3 mm, 2/3–4/5 times as long as sepals.

Seeds

10–15, ashy black, reniform, plump, 0.4–0.6 mm, not shiny, with low-elongate, prominent tubercules.

5–7, dark brown to black, subglobose, slightly compressed, ca. 1 mm, shiny, smooth.

Arenaria serpyllifolia

Arenaria livermorensis

Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Crevices of cliffs and bare walls
Elevation 2100-2500 m (6900-8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Eurasia; Africa [Introduced, North America; introduced in Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 3+ (2 in the flora).

Variation in Arenaria serpyllifolia in the broad sense is treated in various ways. The two varieties recognized here have been treated also as subspecies (e.g., A. O. Chater and G. Halliday 1993) or species (e.g., M. N. Abuhadra 2000; B. Jonsell 2001). Jonsell admitted that accepting them as species is questionable; while the morphological differences are slight (see esp. Abuhadra), the ploidy-level difference (2n = 40 in var. serpyllifolia vs. 2n = 20 in var. tenuior) is important.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Of conservation concern.

Arenaria livermorensis is known only from the Davis Mountains in the Trans-Pecos region of western Texas. It may be related to A. lycopodioides Willdenow ex Schlechtendal, a species found in the mountains of central Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Capsules ovoid to ovoid-conic, broader at base; seeds 0.5-0.6 mm
var. serpyllifolia
1. Capsules cylindric to cylindric-ovoid, not significantly broader at base (walls nearly straight); seeds ca. 0.4 mm
var. tenuior
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 55. FNA vol. 5, p. 54.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Arenaria Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Arenaria
Sibling taxa
A. benthamii, A. humifusa, A. lanuginosa, A. livermorensis, A. longipedunculata, A. ludens, A. paludicola, A. pseudofrigida
A. benthamii, A. humifusa, A. lanuginosa, A. longipedunculata, A. ludens, A. paludicola, A. pseudofrigida, A. serpyllifolia
Subordinate taxa
A. serpyllifolia var. serpyllifolia, A. serpyllifolia var. tenuior
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 423. (1753) Correll: Brittonia 18: 308. (1967)
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