Minuartia rossii
Minuartia austromontana
Ross' sandwort
Columbian stitchwort, Rocky Mountain sandwort
stout, woody.
moderately stout, not woody.
ascending to spreading, green or often purple, 1–3 cm, glabrous, internodes of flowering stems 0.2–1 times as long as leaves.
spreading to erect, cespitose, green, 3–15 cm, glabrous, internodes of all stems 0.2–0.6 times as long as leaves.
overlapping, ± tightly (vegetative), ± evenly spaced proximally (cauline), connate-perfoliate proximally, with tight, herbaceous sheath 0.2–0.3 mm;
blade upwardly curved, green or often purple, keeled, prominently 1-veined abaxially, subulate, 3-angled, 1–4 × 0.5–0.7 mm, flexuous, margins rounded, herbaceous, smooth, apex green to purple, rounded, navicular, shiny, glabrous;
axillary leaves well developed.
tightly overlapping, usually connate proximally, with ± loose, scarious to herbaceous sheath 0.2–0.8 mm;
blade straight to outwardly curved, green, flat, prominently 1-veined abaxially, linear to subulate, 3–10 × 0.1–1 mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, scarious, smooth, apex green or purple, rounded, navicular, shiny, glabrous;
axillary leaves present among cauline leaves.
solitary flowers, axillary or terminal (rarely present);
bracts absent.
flowers solitary, terminal;
bracts linear to subulate, herbaceous.
0.1–2 cm, glabrous.
0.3–1.5(–2) cm, glabrous.
hypanthium disc-shaped;
sepals 1-veined, oblong-ovate (herbaceous portion usually purple, oblong-ovate), 1.5–2.5 mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex often purple, obtuse to acuminate, navicular, not hooded, glabrous;
petals obovate to spatulate, 1.5–2 times as long as sepals, apex obtuse, entire.
hypanthium disc-shaped, sepals prominently 3-veined, linear to lanceolate (herbaceous portion linear to lanceolate), 2–3 mm, enlarging slightly in fruit, apex usually purple, acute or rounded, not hooded, glabrous;
petals usually absent, if present, rudimentary, linear to oblong, shorter than sepals, apex entire.
on stipe ca. 0.1–0.2 mm, spheric, 1.5–2.5 mm, equaling sepals.
ellipsoid, 2–3 mm, equaling sepals.
brown, suborbiculate, compression unknown, ca. 0.6 mm, obscurely reticulate.
0.6–1 mm, brown, suborbiculate with radicle prolonged into beak, somewhat compressed, minutely tuberculate (50x).
= 58 (Russia), 60.
= 30.
Minuartia rossii
Minuartia austromontana
Minuartia rossii is the northernmost member of the M. rossii complex (S. J. Wolf et al. 1979; B. Maguire 1958), a pulvinate species of moist arctic areas. While specimens occasionally have many flowers, some specimens have few if any, instead reproducing via small axillary fascicles of leaves or short shoots in the upper leaf axils (see also Ö. Nilsson 2001).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Minuartia austromontana is the Rocky Mountains member of the M. rossii complex (S. J. Wolf et al. 1979). Specimens from that region identified as M. rossii subsp. columbiana (Raup) Maguire are probably M. austromontana; contrary to B. Maguire’s (1958) interpretation, the former is a synonym of M. elegans.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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