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Crater Lake sandwort, pumice sandwort

needle-leaf sandwort, prickly sandwort

Habit Plants tufted, green, not glaucous, slightly woody at base. Plants strongly mat-forming, glaucous, often with woody base.
Stems

erect, 10–20 cm, stipitate-glandular.

erect, 7–25(–30) cm, densely stipitate-glandular distally.

Leaves

basal leaves ± deciduous;

cauline leaves (2–)3–5 of equal size distally;

basal blades ascending to ± spreading, narrowly linear, 1.5–3.5 cm × 1–1.5 mm, ± flexuous, ± succulent, apex green, blunt or acute to apiculate, glabrous, not glaucous.

basal leaves persistent;

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

basal blades ascending or often arcuate-spreading, needlelike, (0.5–)1–2.5(–3.5) cm × 0.5–1.5 mm, rigid, herbaceous, apex spinose, glabrous to puberulent, glaucous.

Inflorescences

7–40+-flowered, ± open cymes.

5–25+-flowered, open cymes.

Pedicels

3–20 mm, stipitate-glandular.

3–25 mm, stipitate-glandular.

Flowers

sepals 1–3-veined, lateral pair obscure, ovate, 3–3.8 mm, 4–4.5 mm in fruit, margins broad, apex obtuse to rounded or barely acute, stipitate-glandular;

petals white, narrowly spatulate, 6.6–7.5 mm, 2 times as long as sepals, apex rounded or emarginate;

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

sepals 1–3-veined, lateral veins less developed or all obscure, ovate, 3–4.5 mm, to 6 mm in fruit, margins broad, apex usually obtuse to rounded, abruptly acute, sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular;

petals white, obovate to oblanceolate, 4.5–10 mm, 1.5–3 times as long as sepals, apex rounded;

nectaries as lateral and abaxial rounding, with slight lateral expansion, at base of filaments opposite sepals, 0.3 mm.

Capsules

4.5–5.5 mm, glabrous.

5–9 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

black to brown, oblong to pyriform, 1.8–2.4 mm, smooth to tuberculate.

yellowish tan to gray, ellipsoid-oblong, 1.8–2.5(–3.2) mm, tuberculate;

tubercles rounded, elongate.

2n

= 22.

Eremogone pumicola

Eremogone aculeata

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering summer–early fall.
Habitat Areas with loose pumice Rocky slopes, alluvium, volcanic areas
Elevation 1600-2800 m (5200-9200 ft) 1500-3400 m (4900-11200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eremogone pumicola is restricted to Crater Lake and vicinity, southwestern Oregon.

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

Some specimens from north-central California and southwestern Oregon have been named Arenaria pumicola var. californica. R. L. Hartman (1993) considered those plants to be robust forms of Eremogone aculeata, not deserving formal recognition. Based on work by M. F. Baad (1969), they warrant further study.

Reports of Eremogone aculeata from Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming are erroneous.

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 69. FNA vol. 5, p. 59.
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. macradenia, E. stenomeres, E. ursina
E. aberrans, E. capillaris, E. congesta, E. eastwoodiae, E. fendleri, E. ferrisiae, E. franklinii, E. hookeri, E. kingii, E. macradenia, E. pumicola, E. stenomeres, E. ursina
Synonyms Arenaria pumicola Arenaria aculeata, Arenaria fendleri var. aculeata, Arenaria pumicola var. californica
Name authority (Coville & Leiberg) Ikonnikov: Novosti Syst. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 140. (1973) (S. Watson) Ikonnikov: Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 139. (1973)
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