Minuartia rossii
Minuartia elegans
Ross' sandwort
elegant stitchwort
stout, woody.
filiform to slightly thickened.
ascending to spreading, green or often purple, 1–3 cm, glabrous, internodes of flowering stems 0.2–1 times as long as leaves.
erect to arcuate-ascending, green, commonly purplish, 3–8 cm, glabrous, internodes of all stems 0.2–1.5 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 sheath 0.2–0.7 mm;
blade ascending to variously curved, green, commonly purplish, flat, prominently 1-veined abaxially, linear to subulate, 3–10 × 1–2 mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, scarious, smooth, apex green to purple, rounded, navicular, shiny, glabrous;
axillary leaves present among cauline leaves.
solitary flowers, axillary or terminal (rarely present);
bracts absent.
solitary flowers, terminal;
bracts linear to subulate, herbaceous.
0.1–2 cm, glabrous.
1–4 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 3-veined, midrib prominent, lateral veins 1/4–1/2 times as long as sepals, ovate to lanceolate (herbaceous portion ovate to lanceolate), 2–4 mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex often purple, rounded to acute, not hooded, glabrous;
petals oblong to obovate, 0.8–1 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, entire, rarely absent.
on stipe ca. 0.1–0.2 mm, spheric, 1.5–2.5 mm, equaling sepals.
on stipe ca. 0.2 mm, ellipsoid, 2–4 mm, equaling sepals.
brown, suborbiculate, compression unknown, ca. 0.6 mm, obscurely reticulate.
reddish brown, suborbiculate with radicle prolonged into rounded beak, somewhat compressed, 0.6–1 mm, tuberculate;
tubercles low, rounded, elongate.
= 58 (Russia), 60.
= 30, 60.
Minuartia rossii
Minuartia elegans
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 elegans is a part of the M. rossii complex (S. J. Wolf et al. 1979), and is an amphi-Beringian species. The plants are tufted and are known in the flora area only from northwestern Canada and Alaska. Reports from the Pacific Northwest and southern Rocky Mountains likely are referable to M. austromontana.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
