Eremogone congesta |
Eremogone aberrans |
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ball-head sandwort, capitate sandwort |
Mount Dellanbaugh sandwort |
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Habit | Plants tufted or sometimes matted, green, not glaucous, with woody base. | Plants tufted to mat forming, green, not glaucous, with woody base. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | ± erect, 3–40(–50) cm, glabrous or often stipitate-glandular. |
erect, (3–)10–23 cm, moderately to densely stipitate-glandular. |
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Leaves | 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. |
basal leaves abundant, persistent; cauline leaves in 5–7 pairs, reduced distally; basal blades spreading to arcuate-spreading, needlelike, 0.8–2 cm × 0.4–0.8 mm, ± rigid, not fleshy, herbaceous, apex spinose, glabrous, not glaucous. |
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Inflorescences | 3–50+-flowered, congested and capitate or sometimes open, umbellate cymes. |
(1–)3–6-flowered, open cymes. |
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Pedicels | 0.1–7(–15) mm or ± absent, usually glabrous, rarely stipitate-glandular. |
6–25 mm, stipitate-glandular. |
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Flowers | 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. |
sepals 1–3-veined, lateral veins less developed, narrowly elliptic to ovate, 3.5–4 mm, 4.8–5.2 mm in fruit, margins usually broadly winged, scarious, apex broadly acute to obtuse (at least in fruit), glabrous or nearly so; petals yellowish white, spatulate, 5.8–10 mm, 1.3–1.5 times as long as sepals, apex rounded; nectaries as lateral and abaxial rounding of base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.2–0.3 mm. |
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Capsules | 3.5–6 mm, glabrous. |
7–10 mm, glabrous. |
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Seeds | reddish brown to black, broadly ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.4–3 mm, tuberculate; tubercles low, rounded, often elongate. |
brownish black, suborbicular with hilar notch, 2–2.4 mm, tuberculate; tubercles rounded, elongate. |
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Eremogone congesta |
Eremogone aberrans |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Oak and yellow pine forests | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1500-2800 m (4900-9200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; SK
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AZ |
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Discussion | 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.) |
Eremogone aberrans is known only from northern Arizona and resembles a robust form of the more northerly occurring E. aculeata. In Arizona it is often confused with E. fendleri, which has sepals more or less glandular-pubescent whereas E. aberrans has sepals glabrous or with a few glandular hairs at their bases. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 60. | FNA vol. 5, p. 59. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Arenaria congesta | Arenaria aberrans | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Nuttall) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973) | (M. E. Jones) Ikonnikov: Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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