Eremogone aculeata |
Eremogone congesta |
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needle-leaf sandwort, prickly sandwort |
ball-head sandwort, capitate sandwort |
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Habit | Plants strongly mat-forming, glaucous, often with woody base. | Plants tufted or sometimes matted, green, not glaucous, with woody base. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect, 7–25(–30) cm, densely stipitate-glandular distally. |
± erect, 3–40(–50) cm, glabrous or often stipitate-glandular. |
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Leaves | basal leaves persistent; cauline leaves in 1–3 pairs, abruptly reduced distal to lowest pair; basal blades ascending or often arcuate-spreading, needlelike, (0.5–)1–2.5(–3.5) cm × 0.5–1.5 mm, rigid, herbaceous, apex spinose, glabrous to puberulent, glaucous. |
basal leaves persistent or not; cauline leaves in 3–5 pairs, similar, but reduced distally; basal blades erect-ascending to arcuate-spreading, subulate or needlelike to filiform, (0.8–)2–11(–14) cm × 0.4–2 mm, flexuous or rigid, herbaceous to ± fleshy, apex obtuse to sharply acute or spinose, glabrous, sometimes glaucous. |
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Inflorescences | 5–25+-flowered, open cymes. |
3–50+-flowered, congested and capitate or sometimes open, umbellate cymes. |
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Pedicels | 3–25 mm, stipitate-glandular. |
0.1–7(–15) mm or ± absent, usually glabrous, rarely stipitate-glandular. |
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Flowers | sepals 1–3-veined, lateral veins less developed or all obscure, ovate, 3–4.5 mm, to 6 mm in fruit, margins broad, apex usually obtuse to rounded, abruptly acute, sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular; petals white, obovate to oblanceolate, 4.5–10 mm, 1.5–3 times as long as sepals, apex rounded; nectaries as lateral and abaxial rounding, with slight lateral expansion, at base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.3 mm. |
sepals 1–3-veined, sometimes obscurely so, ovate to lanceolate, 3–6.5 mm, not expanding in fruit, margins narrow, apex obtuse or acute to acuminate, rarely spinose, glabrous (or glandular in var. prolifera); petals white, oblong, 5–8(–10) mm, 1.5–2 times as long as sepals, apex entire to slightly emarginate; nectaries as lateral and abaxial mound with crescent-shaped groove at base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.3 × 0.15–0.2 mm. |
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Capsules | 5–9 mm, glabrous. |
3.5–6 mm, glabrous. |
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Seeds | yellowish tan to gray, ellipsoid-oblong, 1.8–2.5(–3.2) mm, tuberculate; tubercles rounded, elongate. |
reddish brown to black, broadly ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.4–3 mm, tuberculate; tubercles low, rounded, often elongate. |
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2n | = 22. |
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Eremogone aculeata |
Eremogone congesta |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–early fall. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Rocky slopes, alluvium, volcanic areas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1500-3400 m (4900-11200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA
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CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; SK
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Discussion | Some specimens from north-central California and southwestern Oregon have been named Arenaria pumicola var. californica. R. L. Hartman (1993) considered those plants to be robust forms of Eremogone aculeata, not deserving formal recognition. Based on work by M. F. Baad (1969), they warrant further study. Reports of Eremogone aculeata from Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming are erroneous. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 9 (9 in the flora). Eremogone congesta is highly polymorphic; it has been been divided into 11 varieties (nine recognized here), most of which are distinctive and locally distributed. M. F. Baad (1969) noted two patterns of variation of different origin within E. congesta, but he did not present a revised classification. While most specimens of the four varieties with dense inflorescences do not exhibit evident pedicels, the occasional plant does bear one or more pedicels to 1–2 mm, sometimes in secondary inflorescences. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 59. | FNA vol. 5, p. 60. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Arenaria aculeata, Arenaria fendleri var. aculeata, Arenaria pumicola var. californica | Arenaria congesta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (S. Watson) Ikonnikov: Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973) | (Nuttall) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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