Flora of North America species comparison

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Eremogone macradenia

Eremogone congesta

desert sandwort, Mohave sandwort, Mojave or desert sandwort, Mojave sandwort

ball-head sandwort, capitate sandwort
Habit Plants tufted, green, not glaucous, with woody base. Plants tufted or sometimes matted, green, not glaucous, with woody base.
Stems

erect, (10–)20–40(–70) cm, glabrous to stipitate-glandular.

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

basal leaves sparse or absent;

cauline leaves usually in 5–12+ pairs, not significantly reduced;

basal blades ascending to arcuate-spreading or recurved, needlelike or narrowly linear, (0.7–)2–6(–7) cm × 0.8–2 mm, ± rigid, herbaceous to subsucculent, apex blunt to spinose, glabrous, not glaucous.

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.
Inflorescences

3–20(–30)-flowered, ± compact cymes;

branches ascending to erect.

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

3–45 mm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular.

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

sepals 1–3-veined, ovate to lanceolate or elliptic, 4.5–7.2 mm, to 8 mm in fruit, margins narrow to broad, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous to sparsely stipitate-glandular;

petals white or yellowish, oblanceolate to spatulate, 6–11 mm, 1–2 times as long as sepals, apex entire or erose;

nectaries thickened, molarlike, apically 2-lobed, 1–1.5 mm, or narrowly longitudinally rectangular, truncate, 0.7–0.8 mm, densely minutely pubescent with erect to spreading hairs.

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.
Capsules

6–8 mm, glabrous.

3.5–6 mm, glabrous.
Seeds

greenish or reddish brown to blackish, suborbicular to pyriform or ovoid, 1.3–3.2 mm, tuberculate, sometimes echinate on abaxial ridge;

tubercles low, rounded to conic.

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

tubercles low, rounded, often elongate.

Eremogone macradenia

Eremogone congesta
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Eremogone macradenia is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

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

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.)
Key
1. Cauline leaves mostly in 5-8 pairs, blade ± ascending throughout, 0.8-1.2 mm wide
var. macradenia
1. Cauline leaves mostly in 6-12+ pairs, blade curved downward, especially proximal ones, 1.2-2 mm wide
var. arcuifolia
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. 68. 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. fendleri, E. ferrisiae, E. franklinii, E. hookeri, E. kingii, E. pumicola, E. stenomeres, E. ursina
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
Subordinate taxa
E. macradenia var. arcuifolia, E. macradenia var. macradenia
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 macradenia Arenaria congesta
Name authority (S. Watson) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 140. (1973) (Nuttall) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (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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