Minuartia nuttallii |
Minuartia macrocarpa |
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brittle sandwort, musk-flower, Nuttall sandwort, Nuttall's sandwort, Nuttall's stitchwort |
large-fruit sandwort, long-pod stitchwort |
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Habit | Plants perennial, mat-forming. | Plants perennial, mat-forming. | ||||||||||||
Taproots | thickened, woody; crown, many-branched, woody; rhizomes and trailing stems to 60 cm. |
stout, woody. |
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Stems | ascending to erect, ± green, 2–20 cm, densely glandular-hairy throughout, internodes of flowering stems 0.2–2 times as long as leaves. |
erect to ascending, green, 3–10 cm, glabrous or sometimes stipitate-glandular, internodes of flowering stems 1–5 times as long as leaves. |
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Leaves | 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. |
tightly overlapping (vegetative), variably spaced (cauline), usually connate proximally, with tight, scarious to herbaceous sheath 1–1.5 mm; blade straight to outwardly curved, green, flat, 3-veined, often prominently so abaxially, linear to oblong or narrowly lanceolate, 4–14 × 0.5–2 mm, flexuous, margins thickened, ± coriaceous, ciliate, often densely so, apex green, rounded, navicular, shiny, glabrous or essentially so throughout or abaxially, sometimes pubescent adaxially, hairs resembling cilia; axillary leaves present among vegetative leaves. |
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Inflorescences | (3–)6–30-flowered, open cymes; bracts lanceolate to subulate, usually scarious. |
solitary flowers, terminal; bracts linear, herbaceous. |
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Pedicels | 0.2–2 cm, stipitate-glandular. |
0.4–1 cm, usually densely stipitate-glandular. |
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Flowers | 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. |
hypanthium cup-shaped; sepals prominently 3-veined proximally, lanceolate to oblong (herbaceous portion often purple, lanceolate to oblong), 4.5–6 mm, to 9 mm in fruit, apex often purple, rounded, hooded, stipitate-glandular; petals broadly obovate, 1.2–1.6 times as long as sepals, apex blunt or rounded, entire. |
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Capsules | on stipe ca. 0.1–0.2 mm, ovoid, 5 mm, usually shorter than sepals. |
narrowly ellipsoid, 10–18 mm, longer than sepals. |
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Seeds | reddish brown to dark brown, oblong-elliptic with hilar notch on 1 end, 1.5–2.7 mm, tuberculate; tubercles low-rounded. |
red-brown to brown, orbiculate with radicle prominent and notch filled with papillae, somewhat compressed, 1–1.1 mm (excluding papillae), rounded-tuberculate, ringed with longitudinal, cylindrical, tan papillae 0.5–0.8 mm. |
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2n | = 44 (Russia), 46, 48 (Russia). |
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Minuartia nuttallii |
Minuartia macrocarpa |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Rocky, montane ridges, sandy slopes, well-drained alpine tundra and heathlands | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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AK; BC; NT; YT; Asia (Japan, Russian Far East, Siberia) |
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Discussion | 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.) |
An amphi-Beringian species, Minaurtia macrocarpa is easily distinguished by having the largest capsules of any North American Minuartia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 129. | FNA vol. 5, p. 127. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Minuartia | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Minuartia | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Arenaria nuttallii, Minuopsis nuttallii | Arenaria macrocarpa, Alsinopsis macrocarpa, Wierzbickia macrocarpa | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Pax) Briquet: Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Genève 13–14: 385. (1911) | (Pursh) Ostenfeld: Meddel. Grønland 37: 226. (1920) | ||||||||||||
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