Minuartia rossii
Minuartia stricta
Ross' sandwort
bog stitchwort, granite sandwort, minuartie raide, rock sandwort
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.
ascending to erect or procumbent, green, (0.8–)3–12 cm, glabrous, internodes of all stems 0.5–10 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.
barely if at all overlapping, connate proximally, with tight, scarious to herbaceous sheath 0.2–0.5 mm;
blade straight to slightly outward curved, green, flat, 1-veined, occasionally 3-veined abaxially, linear to linear-oblong or subulate, (2–)4–10 × (0.3–)0.5–1.5 mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, scarious, smooth, apex green or purple, mostly rounded, slightly navicular, shiny, glabrous;
axillary leaves present among proximal cauline leaves.
solitary flowers, axillary or terminal (rarely present);
bracts absent.
1–3(–5)-flowered, open cymes or flowers solitary, terminal;
bracts subulate, herbaceous.
0.1–2 cm, glabrous.
0.3–3 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 1–3-veined, often prominently, becoming ribbed in fruit, broadly elliptic to ovate (herbaceous portion broadly elliptic to ovate), (1.5–)2.5–3.2 mm, to 4 mm in fruit, apex green to purple, acute to acuminate, not hooded, glabrous;
petals lanceolate to spatulate or orbiculate, (0.6–)0.8–1 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, entire, or petals rudimentary or absent.
on stipe ca. 0.1–0.2 mm, spheric, 1.5–2.5 mm, equaling sepals.
on stipe ca. 0.1–0.2 mm, ovoid, 2.5–3.2 mm, shorter than or equaling sepals.
brown, suborbiculate, compression unknown, ca. 0.6 mm, obscurely reticulate.
brown or reddish brown, orbiculate with radicle prolonged into rounded bump, somewhat compressed, 0.4–0.6 mm, smooth or obscurely low-tuberculate (50x).
= 58 (Russia), 60.
= 22 (Europe), 26, 30 (Europe).
Minuartia rossii
Minuartia stricta
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 stricta is circumpolar and sometimes has been included within M. michauxii (e.g., B. Maguire 1958; H. J. Scoggan 1978–1979, part 3).
Plants from alpine sites in California are, in spite of smaller stature and often smaller floral parts, Minuartia stricta. Colorado populations appear to vary widely in habit, but floral and fruit features match M. stricta.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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