Flora of North America species comparison

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Eremogone congesta

Eremogone ursina

ball-head sandwort, capitate sandwort

Bear Valley sandwort, Big Bear Valley sandwort
Habit Plants tufted or sometimes matted, green, not glaucous, with woody base. Plants tufted, green, not glaucous, with somewhat woody base.
Stems

± erect, 3–40(–50) cm, glabrous or often stipitate-glandular.

ascending to erect, 10–18 cm, often glandular-hairy.
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 persistent;

cauline leaves in 3–5 pairs, reduced distally;

basal blades erect to ± spreading, needlelike, 0.5–1.1(–1.6) cm × 0.5–0.7 mm, rigid, herbaceous, not fleshy, apex blunt to apiculate, glabrous, ± glaucous.
Inflorescences

3–50+-flowered, congested and capitate or sometimes open, umbellate cymes.

(1–)3–7-flowered, ± open cymes.
Pedicels

0.1–7(–15) mm or ± absent, usually glabrous, rarely stipitate-glandular.

0.3–2 mm, stipitate-glandular.
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, ovate, often broadly so, 1.8–3 mm, to 4.2 mm in fruit, margins broad, apex obtuse or rounded, glabrous;

petals white, elliptic to oblanceolate, 2–4.5 mm, 1.4–1.6 times as long as sepals, apex rounded;

nectaries as lateral and abaxial rounding of base of filaments opposite sepals, with terminal lateral groove, 0.3 mm.
Capsules

3.5–6 mm, glabrous.

4.5–6 mm, glabrous.
Seeds

reddish brown to black, broadly ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.4–3 mm, tuberculate;

tubercles low, rounded, often elongate.

blackish purple, suborbicular to broadly ellipsoid with hilar notch, 2.2–2.5(–3) mm, tuberculate;

tubercles rounded, elongate.

Eremogone congesta

Eremogone ursina
Phenology Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat Pinyon-juniper woodlands on rocky (quartzite) soils
Elevation 1900-2100 m (6200-6900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Of conservation concern.

Eremogone ursina is known from four counties in southern California, where it is threatened by development. It is relatively distinctive in appearance and markedly separated spatially from congeners.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Pedicels usually 0.1-0.2 mm or ± absent; inflorescences dense, tight cymes
→ 2
1. Pedicels 1-6(-15) mm; inflorescences somewhat to markedly open cymes or umbellate cymes
→ 5
2. Basal leaf blades filiform, 3-14 cm
→ 3
2. Basal leaf blades needlelike, 1-3.5 cm
→ 4
3. Inflorescences capitate, rounded cymes; sepal apices obtuse to rounded
var. congesta
3. Inflorescences capitate, pyramidal cymes; sepal apices narrowly acute to acuminate
var. cephaloidea
4. Sepals 5-6.5 mm, apex acute to acuminate; basal leaf blades herbaceous; California, Nevada
var. simulans
4. Sepals 3.5-4 mm, apex obtuse; basal leaf blades ± succulent; California, Oregon
var. crassula
5. Sepal apices obtuse
→ 6
5. Sepal apices acute to acuminate or spinose
→ 7
6. Inflorescences proliferating, ± loose cymes; bracts often not closely enveloping sepals; Alberta, Saskatchewan, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming
var. lithophila
6. Inflorescences umbels, bracts clustered at umbel base; California
var. suffrutescens
7. Basal leaf blades (2-)3-8 cm, filiform; pedicels glabrous or sometimes stipitate-glandular (possible throughout range, true for Nevada populations); Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington
var. prolifera
7. Basal leaf blades 0.5-2.5(-3.5) cm, needlelike or filiform; pedicels glabrous; California, Nevada, Utah
→ 8
8. Inflorescences proliferating, ± loose cymes; sepals 3.5-4.5 mm
var. subcongesta
8. Inflorescences capitate and often rounded, to subcongested, proliferating or open cymes; sepals 4.5-6.5 mm
→ 9
9. Sepals 4.5-5.5 mm, weakly to conspicuously 1-3-veined, apex spinose
var. charlestonensis
9. Sepals usually 5.5-6.5 mm, conspicuously 3-veined, apex acute to acuminate
var. simulans
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 60. FNA vol. 5, p. 70.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone
Sibling taxa
E. aberrans, E. aculeata, E. capillaris, E. eastwoodiae, E. fendleri, E. ferrisiae, E. franklinii, E. hookeri, E. kingii, E. macradenia, E. pumicola, E. stenomeres, E. ursina
E. aberrans, E. aculeata, E. capillaris, E. congesta, E. eastwoodiae, E. fendleri, E. ferrisiae, E. franklinii, E. hookeri, E. kingii, E. macradenia, E. pumicola, E. stenomeres
Subordinate taxa
E. congesta var. cephaloidea, E. congesta var. charlestonensis, E. congesta var. congesta, E. congesta var. crassula, E. congesta var. lithophila, E. congesta var. prolifera, E. congesta var. simulans, E. congesta var. subcongesta, E. congesta var. suffrutescens
Synonyms Arenaria congesta Arenaria ursina
Name authority (Nuttall) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973) (B. L. Robinson) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 140. (1973)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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