Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Eremogone fendleri

Eremogone ferrisiae

Fendler's sandwort

Ferris' sandwort
Habit Plants ± cespitose, bluish green, not glaucous, with woody base. Plants tufted, green, not glaucous, with woody base.
Stems

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

erect, (10–)20–40(–100) cm, glabrous to stipitate-glandular.
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 sparse or absent;

cauline leaves usually in 5–7 pairs, not significantly reduced;

basal blades ascending, needlelike or narrowly linear, 2–6(–7) cm × 0.5–1 mm, ± rigid, herbaceous to subsucculent, apex blunt to spinose, usually glabrous, not glaucous.
Inflorescences

(1–)3–35-flowered, ± open cymes.

10–30(–80)-flowered, diffuse cymes;

branches spreading.
Pedicels

3–25 mm, stipitate-glandular.

15–55 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 1–3-veined, ovate to lanceolate or elliptic, 3–4.3 mm, to 5.5 mm in fruit, margins narrow to broad, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous to sparsely stipitate-glandular;

petals white or yellowish, oblanceolate to spatulate, 6–9 mm, 1–1.5 times as long as sepals, apex entire or erose;

nectaries as lateral and abaxial rounding of base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.3–0.4 mm.
Capsules

5–7 mm, glabrous.

6–7 mm, glabrous.
Seeds

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

tubercles rounded, elongate to rounded-conic.

reddish brown to blackish, suborbicular to pyriform or ovoid, 1.3–3.2 mm, tuberculate;

tubercles low, rounded to conic.
2n

= 44.

Eremogone fendleri

Eremogone ferrisiae
Phenology Flowering spring–late summer. Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Sagebrush plains, pine forests, and mountain slopes to alpine zones Pine and oak woodlands, granitic alluvium on foothills and mountain slopes
Elevation 1200-4300 m (3900-14100 ft) 1400-2900 m (4600-9500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch 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.)

We now believe that Eremogone macradenia (in the sense of R. L. Hartman 1993) should be split into two species, with E. macradenia var. ferrisiae (Abrams) R. L. Hartman & Rabeler being elevated to species rank (Hartman and R. K. Rabeler 2004), as here. This became particularly obvious when comparing nectary morphology of E. macradenia (rectangular, two-lobed or truncate, 0.7–1.5 mm or narrowly longitudinally rectangular, truncate, densely minutely pubescent with erect to spreading hairs, 0.7–0.8 mm) with that of E. ferrisiae (rounded, 0.3–0.4 mm). Furthermore, the nectary types correlate well with sepal size and inflorescence type, as indicated in the key. This disposition agrees with the conclusions of M. F. Baad (1969).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 64. FNA vol. 5, p. 65.
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. capillaris, E. congesta, E. eastwoodiae, E. fendleri, E. franklinii, E. hookeri, E. kingii, E. macradenia, E. pumicola, E. stenomeres, E. ursina
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 macradenia subsp. ferrisiae, E. macradenia var. ferrisiae
Name authority (A. Gray) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973) (Abrams) R. L. Hartman & Rabeler: Sida 21: 754. (2004)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers