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Pitcher's stitchwort

Howell's sandwort, Howell's stitchwort

Habit Plants winter annual or annual. Plants annual.
Taproots

filiform.

moderately stout.

Stems

erect to ascending, green, 5–30 cm, glabrous or sometimes stipitate-glandular distally or throughout, internodes of all stems 1–7 times as long as leaves; wintering stems absent.

erect to spreading, green, becoming purple, 12–30 cm, mostly glabrous, internodes of all stems 2–7 times as long as leaves.

Leaves

overlapping proximally, connate proximally, with loose, scarious to herbaceous sheath 0.1–0.5 mm;

blade straight to variously curved, green, flat, prominently 1-veined abaxially, linear, 2–20 × 0.5–1.5(–1.8) mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, herbaceous, smooth, apex green or purple, blunt to acute, flat, ± shiny, glabrous to stipitate-glandular;

axillary leaves absent.

sometimes overlapping proximally, often connate proximally, with loose, scarious to herbaceous sheath 0.2–0.5 mm;

blade straight to recurved, green, becoming purple, concave, prominently 1(–3)-veined abaxially, linear-lanceolate, 5–15 × 1–2.5 mm, rigid, margins not thickened, slightly scarious, smooth, apex green to purple, obtuse to acute, often apiculate, flat to navicular, dull, densely stipitate-glandular;

axillary leaves absent.

Inflorescences

5–30-flowered, open cymes;

bracts subulate to ovate, herbaceous.

5–25+-flowered, open cymes;

bracts lanceolate to ovate, herbaceous.

Pedicels

0.3–3 cm, stipitate-glandular.

0.3–4+ cm, stipitate-glandular.

Flowers

hypanthium shallowly disc-shaped;

sepals prominently (3- or) 5-veined, narrowly to broadly lanceolate (herbaceous portion narrowly to broadly lanceolate), 4–5.5 mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex green or purple, narrowly acute to acuminate, not hooded, glabrous to sparsely stipitate-glandular;

petals obovate, 1.5–2.2(–3) times as long as sepals, apex rounded, broadly notched.

hypanthium disc-shaped;

sepals weakly veined proximally, ovate (herbaceous portion ovate to narrowly so), 1.9–3 mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex often purple, ± acute to acuminate, not hooded, stipitate-glandular proximally;

petals oblanceolate, 1.8–2.3 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, entire.

Capsules

on stipe ca. 0.1 mm or shorter, narrowly ellipsoid, 3–4.2 mm, shorter than sepals.

on stipe ca. 0.2 mm, broadly ovoid, 2.7–3.5 mm, usually longer than sepals.

Seeds

reddish brown to black, suborbiculate, radicle obscure, slightly compressed, 0.5–0.6 mm, tuberculate;

tubercles low, rounded.

blackish brown, suborbiculate with radicle prolonged to rounded beak, somewhat compressed, 1.4–1.7 mm, tuberculate;

tubercles low, rounded, often elongate.

Minuartia patula

Minuartia howellii

Phenology Flowering spring–early summer. Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Prairies, meadows, limestone barrens, and rocky outcrops in sandy, clayey, or gravelly soils Chaparral, Jeffrey pine-oak woodlands, serpentine
Elevation 0-500 500-1000 m (1600-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; OH; OK; PA; TN; TX; VA; WI
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Minuartia patula and the related M. muscorum have received little attention in comparison to the granite-outcrop minuartias, the M. uniflora complex. J. A. Steyermark (1941) studied these taxa and described three forms, based chiefly on pubescence variation. Plants entirely glabrous [forma pitcheri (Nuttall) Steyermark] and those with sepals and pedicels somewhat stipitate-glandular (forma media Steyermark) were segregated from densely stipitate-glandular plants (forma patula). We do not feel that such variations deserve formal taxonomic recognition. Forma robusta, as defined by Steyermark, is here referred to M. muscorum.

Most specimens of Minuartia patula have prominently five-veined sepals (seen especially easily in the glabrous forms); occasional plants from Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia have glabrous sepals with only three strong veins, resembling those of M. muscorum; in other features, including the seeds, they are clearly referable to M. patula. The status of the plants with three-veined sepals remains ambiguous; J. A. Steyermark (1941) included them in his forma media and B. Maguire (1951) included them (in our opinion incorrectly) in his var. robusta.

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 131. FNA vol. 5, p. 127.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Minuartia Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Minuartia
Sibling taxa
M. arctica, M. austromontana, M. biflora, M. californica, M. caroliniana, M. cismontana, M. cumberlandensis, M. dawsonensis, M. decumbens, M. douglasii, M. drummondii, M. elegans, M. glabra, M. godfreyi, M. groenlandica, M. howellii, M. macrantha, M. macrocarpa, M. marcescens, M. michauxii, M. muscorum, M. nuttallii, M. obtusiloba, M. pusilla, M. rosei, M. rossii, M. rubella, M. stolonifera, M. stricta, M. tenella, M. uniflora, M. yukonensis
M. arctica, M. austromontana, M. biflora, M. californica, M. caroliniana, M. cismontana, M. cumberlandensis, M. dawsonensis, M. decumbens, M. douglasii, M. drummondii, M. elegans, M. glabra, M. godfreyi, M. groenlandica, M. macrantha, M. macrocarpa, M. marcescens, M. michauxii, M. muscorum, M. nuttallii, M. obtusiloba, M. patula, M. pusilla, M. rosei, M. rossii, M. rubella, M. stolonifera, M. stricta, M. tenella, M. uniflora, M. yukonensis
Synonyms Arenaria patula, Alsinopsis patula, Alsinopsis pitcheri, Sabulina patula Arenaria howellii, Alsinopsis howellii
Name authority (Michaux) Mattfeld: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 57(Beibl. 126): 28. (1921) (S. Watson) Mattfeld: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 57(Beibl. 126): 27. (1921)
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