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Fendler's sandwort

fescue sandwort, mountain sandwort, slender mountain sandwort, thread-leaf sandwort

Habit Plants ± cespitose, bluish green, not glaucous, with woody base. Plants cespitose to somewhat matted, green or often glaucous, with woody base.
Stems

erect, (2–)10–30(–40) cm, stipitate-glandular.

erect to ascending, (3–)5–20(–25) cm, entirely glabrous or glabrous proximally, stipitate-glandular distally.

Leaves

basal leaves persistent;

cauline leaves in (4–)5+ pairs, reduced or not;

basal blades ascending or recurved, filiform, 1–10(–11) cm × 0.2–0.4 mm, flexuous, herbaceous, apex apiculate to spinose, glabrous to puberulent, not glaucous.

basal leaves abundant, persistent;

cauline leaves in 1–3 pairs, abruptly reduced distal to lowest pair;

basal blades erect, straight or often curved in one direction, filiform, (2–)4–8 cm × 0.5–1 mm, flexuous, herbaceous, apex acute or acuminate to weakly spinose, glabrous, sometimes stipitate-glandular, often glaucous.

Inflorescences

(1–)3–35-flowered, ± open cymes.

1–12(–18)-flowered, open or rarely subcongested cymes.

Pedicels

3–25 mm, stipitate-glandular.

(2–)5–20 mm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular.

Flowers

sepals weakly to prominently 1–3-veined, linear-lanceolate, 4–7.5 mm, not enlarging in fruit, margins broad, apex acuminate, moderately to densely stipitate-glandular on herbaceous portion;

petals white, oblong-elliptic to spatulate, 4–8 mm, 0.9–1.3 times as long as sepals, apex entire to somewhat erose;

nectaries as lateral and abaxial rounding of base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.2 × 0.4 mm.

sepals often purplish, 1–3-veined, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 3–4.7 mm, to 5 mm in fruit, margins broad, apex broadly rounded to barely acute, glabrous or stipitate-glandular;

petals white, spatulate, 6–10 mm, 1.5–2.5 times as long as sepals, apex broadly rounded;

nectaries as depressed transverse cup at base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.3–0.7 × 0.1–0.3 mm.

Capsules

5–7 mm, glabrous.

5–8 mm, valves at least sparsely stipitate-glandular or glabrous.

Seeds

black, ovoid to pyriform with hilar notch, 1.5–1.9 mm, tuberculate;

tubercles rounded, elongate to rounded-conic.

brown to black, ellipsoid to ovoid with hilar notch, (1.2–)1.5–2(–2.5) mm, tuberculate;

tubercles rounded, elongate.

2n

= 44.

Eremogone fendleri

Eremogone capillaris

Phenology Flowering spring–late summer.
Habitat Sagebrush plains, pine forests, and mountain slopes to alpine zones
Elevation 1200-4300 m (3900-14100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; AB; BC; NT; YT; Asia (Siberia)
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

We agree with M. F. Baad (1969) in not formally recognizing varieties within Eremogone fendleri. B. Maguire (1947, 1951) recognized five varieties, defined chiefly on leaf and sepal characteristics. While some specimens can be “matched” to varieties, many appear intermediate between them, forming a continuum of variation.

B. Maguire (1947) noted that Eremogone fendleri is “probably to be found in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico”; we have not seen any collections from that area.

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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

B. Maguire (1947, 1951) and subsequent workers separated these varieties of Eremogone capillaris by sepal length: (3–)3.5–4.5(–4.8) mm in var. americana and (3.6–)5–6(–6.6) mm in var. capillaris. Material available to us did not exhibit that distinction.

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

Key
1. Pedicels and sepals glabrous
var. capillaris
1. Pedicels and sepals stipitate-glandular
var. americana
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 64. FNA vol. 5, p. 60.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Eremogone
Sibling taxa
E. aberrans, E. aculeata, E. capillaris, E. congesta, E. eastwoodiae, E. ferrisiae, E. franklinii, E. hookeri, E. kingii, E. macradenia, E. pumicola, E. stenomeres, E. ursina
E. aberrans, E. aculeata, E. congesta, E. eastwoodiae, E. fendleri, E. ferrisiae, E. franklinii, E. hookeri, E. kingii, E. macradenia, E. pumicola, E. stenomeres, E. ursina
Subordinate taxa
E. capillaris var. americana, E. capillaris var. capillaris
Synonyms Arenaria fendleri, Arenaria fendleri subsp. brevifolia, Arenaria fendleri var. brevifolia, Arenaria fendleri var. diffusa, Arenaria fendleri var. porteri, Arenaria fendleri var. tweedyi, Arenaria tweedyi Arenaria capillaris
Name authority (A. Gray) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973) (Poiret) Fenzl: Vers. Darstell. Alsin., 37. (1833)
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