Minuartia drummondii |
Minuartia nuttallii |
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Drummond's stitchwort |
brittle sandwort, musk-flower, Nuttall sandwort, Nuttall's sandwort, Nuttall's stitchwort |
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Habit | Plants annual. | Plants perennial, mat-forming. | ||||||||||||
Taproots | filiform. |
thickened, woody; crown, many-branched, woody; rhizomes and trailing stems to 60 cm. |
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Stems | erect to ascending, green, 5–20 cm, stipitate-glandular, often densely so, internodes of all stems 1–3 times as long as leaves. |
ascending to erect, ± green, 2–20 cm, densely glandular-hairy throughout, internodes of flowering stems 0.2–2 times as long as leaves. |
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Leaves | overlapping proximally, perfoliate proximally, with ± loose, scarious to herbaceous sheath 0.5–1 mm; blade green, flat, 1-veined, oblanceolate to cuneate (proximal) to oblong-lanceolate to ovate (remaining cauline), 5–30(–35) × 2–4 mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, ± scarious, smooth, apex green to purple, obtuse to abruptly pointed, dull, glabrous; axillary leaves absent. |
tightly appressed to spreading, ± evenly spaced, connate proximally, with ± loose, scarious sheath 0.1–0.7 mm; blade straight to recurved, ± green, flat, prominently 1-veined abaxially, broadly lanceolate to linear, 5–20 × 0.5–1.5 mm, ± rigid, margins rounded, scarious in proximal 1/3–1/4, apex green to purple, acute to acuminate or spinescent, navicular with small mucro or spinescent, dull, stipitate-glandular; axillary leaves present proximally to throughout. |
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Inflorescences | 7–12-flowered, open cymes, or rarely solitary, terminal; bracts ± lanceolate, herbaceous, sometimes scarious-margined proximally. |
(3–)6–30-flowered, open cymes; bracts lanceolate to subulate, usually scarious. |
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Pedicels | reflexed in fruit, 0.5–2.5 cm, stipitate-glandular. |
0.2–2 cm, stipitate-glandular. |
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Flowers | hypanthium disc-shaped; sepals obscurely veined, ovate to broadly elliptic (herbaceous portion ovate to broadly elliptic), 3–6 mm, to 7 mm in fruit, apex green or purple, acute to acuminate, not hooded, stipitate-glandular; petals obovate to oblanceolate, 2–2.5 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, broadly notched. |
hypanthium disc-shaped; sepals 1–3-veined, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate or ovate (herbaceous portion narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate or ovate), 3–6(–7) mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex often purple, acute to acuminate or spinescent, not hooded, stipitate-glandular; petals obovate, 0.5–1.6 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, entire. |
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Capsules | sessile, broadly ellipsoid, 6–7.5 mm, equaling or longer than sepals. |
on stipe ca. 0.1–0.2 mm, ovoid, 5 mm, usually shorter than sepals. |
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Seeds | dark brown to blackish, orbiculate with radicle prolonged into beak, only slightly compressed, 0.7–0.8 mm, echinate with rounded tubercles. |
reddish brown to dark brown, oblong-elliptic with hilar notch on 1 end, 1.5–2.7 mm, tuberculate; tubercles low-rounded. |
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Minuartia drummondii |
Minuartia nuttallii |
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Phenology | Flowering late winter–early summer. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Open grassy woodlands, sandy soils | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AR; LA; OK; TX |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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Discussion | Minuartia drummondii is easily recognized by the proportionally large corollas (petals to three times as long as sepals) and pedicels reflexing in fruit. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Minuartia nuttallii, M. decumbens, M. rosei, and M. stolonifera form a complex that, together with the eastern species M. caroliniana and M. michauxii, comprise sect. Sclerophylla Mattfeld. The four western species all have capsules that contain one to three(?) large (1.5–2.8 mm) seeds; unfortunately, these plants appear to be collected only rarely in fruit. Minuartia nuttallii includes four varieties, which can, for the most part, be easily recognized. There is some overlap between var. gracilis and var. fragilis in western Nevada and southeastern Oregon, where some plants exhibit prominently arcuate-spreading leaves (as in var. fragilis) and weakly veined sepals (as in var. gracilis). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 124. | FNA vol. 5, p. 129. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Minuartia | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Minuartia | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Arenaria drummondii | Arenaria nuttallii, Minuopsis nuttallii | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Shinners) McNeill: Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 24: 147. (1962) | (Pax) Briquet: Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Genève 13–14: 385. (1911) | ||||||||||||
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