Eremogone kingii
Eremogone eastwoodiae
King's sandwort
Eastwood's sandwort
erect, (1–)3–20(–25) cm, stipitate-glandular or glabrous proximally.
erect, (8–)10–25 cm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular.
basal leaves abundant, persistent;
cauline leaves in (1–)4+ pairs, reduced distally or not;
basal blades erect or closely ascending to somewhat spreading, green to gray-green, filiform to needlelike or narrowly subulate, 0.3–3(–4) cm × 0.3–1.2 mm, flexuous or rigid, herbaceous, apex apiculate or stiff and spinose, glabrous to stipitate-glandular, not glaucous.
basal leaves persistent;
cauline leaves usually in 2–4 pairs, reduced distally;
basal blades spreading to recurved, needlelike, 1–3(–3.5) cm × 0.5–0.7 mm, flexuous to rigid, herbaceous, apex spinose, glabrous to puberulent, not glaucous.
(1–)3–13-flowered, ± open cymes.
(1–)3–17-flowered, ± open cymes.
2–15 mm, glabrous to densely stipitate-glandular.
3–30 mm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular.
sepals 1–3-veined, lateral veins less developed, ovate or lanceolate, (2.5–)2.8–5(–6) mm, not expanding in fruit, margins broad, apex obtuse to broadly acute or acuminate, glabrous or stipitate-glandular on herbaceous portion;
petals white or rarely pink, oblong to spatulate, (3–)4–7 mm, ca. 1.2–1.3 times as long as sepals, apex entire, erose, or 2-fid almost to base;
nectaries as abaxial, rounded lobe with transverse groove or elongate cup at base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.6 × 0.3 mm.
sepals green or purplish, 1–3-veined, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, (3.5–)4–6.5 mm, not enlarging in fruit, margins broad, apex narrowly acute to acuminate, glabrous or stipitate-glandular;
petals yellowish white or sometimes brownish to reddish pink, broadly oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, 4–6.5 mm, 0.9–1.1 times as long as sepals, apex rounded;
nectaries narrowly longitudinally rectangular, apically cleft or emarginate, adjacent to filaments opposite sepals, 1–2 mm.
4.5–7 mm, glabrous.
4–6 mm, glabrous.
black to brown, spheric or oblong to ovoid, 1.2–2.1 mm, low-tuberculate, sometimes papillate on abaxial ridge.
brown, ovoid to suborbicular with hilar notch, 1.2–1.7 mm, papillate, subechinate;
tubercles conical.
Eremogone kingii
Eremogone eastwoodiae
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
M. F. Baad (1969) considered Eremogone kingii to be monophyletic despite considerable morphological variation; J. C. Hickman (1971) thought otherwise, considering E. kingii to be a “genetic dumping ground for all the closely related taxa,” but did not propose any new taxonomic alignment.
Eremogone kingii is extremely variable throughout its range with six infraspecific taxa recognized (under Arenaria kingii) by B. Maguire (1947, 1951). We have been unsuccessful in distinguishing more than two of those taxa. The others intergrade to such an extent that formal recognition is unwarranted. Most distinctive of these here-rejected taxa is var. uintahensis, said to have sepals (4.5–)5–6 mm, versus 3.6–4.5(–5) for the other taxa. Interestingly, the type specimen has sepals mostly 4.5 mm long. In the main portion of the range of var. uintahensis, the sepals are rounded to broadly obtuse, but they may also be acute. Furthermore, the sepals and pedicels are often glabrous, but the correlation of the above-mentioned characters varies over the range.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
The Hopi Indians may use Eremogone eastwoodiae as an emetic (B. Maguire 1960).
The nectaries in Eremogone eastwoodiae are different from those of most other species of the genus in North America since they are a separate bilobed structure adjacent to, but not a direct enlargement of, the filament bases opposite the sepals.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petals white, apex 2-fid | var. kingii |
1. Petals white or rarely pink, apex entire or erose | var. glabrescens |
1. Stems and pedicels glabrous | var. eastwoodiae |
1. Stems and pedicels stipitate-glandular | var. adenophora |
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
