Minuartia rubella
Minuartia glabra
arctic sandwort, beautiful sandwort, boreal sandplant, boreal stitchwort, minuartie rougeâtre, red seed sandwort, reddish sandwort
Appalachian sandplant, Appalachian stitchwort
filiform to somewhat thickened;
rhizomes absent.
filiform.
ascending to erect, green, 2–8(–18) cm, moderately to densely stipitate-glandular (very rarely glabrous), internodes of stems 1–10 times as long as leaves; trailing stems absent.
erect or ascending, green, 9–20 cm, glabrous, internodes of all stems 2–7 times as long as leaves.
overlapping, ± tightly, distally (cauline), concentrated proximally (cauline), connate proximally, with often loose, usually scarious sheath 0.2–0.7 mm;
blade ± straight or outwardly curved, green, flat to 3-angled, prominently 3-veined abaxially, subulate, 1.5–10 × 0.3–1.3 mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, scarious, smooth, apex green or purple, acute to apiculate, often navicular, shiny, sparsely to densely ciliate, often stipitate-glandular;
axillary leaves present among vegetative leaves.
overlapping proximally (basal rosette absent at flowering), connate proximally, with ± loose, scarious sheath 0.2–0.5 mm;
blade ascending to spreading, green, 1-veined abaxially, flat, linear, 5–20(–30) × 0.5 mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, slightly scarious, smooth, apex green to purple, rounded to acute, dull, glabrous;
axillary leaves absent.
3–7+-flowered, open cymes or rarely flower solitary, terminal;
bracts broadly subulate to narrowly lanceolate, herbaceous, margins scarious.
8–15-flowered, open, leafy cymes;
bracts linear to subulate, mostly herbaceous.
0.2–1.5 cm, densely stipitate-glandular.
0.5–2 cm, glabrous.
hypanthium disc-shaped;
sepals prominently 3-veined, ovate to lanceolate (herbaceous portion oblong to narrowly ovate), 2.5–3.2 mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex green to purple, acute to acuminate, not hooded, stipitate-glandular;
petals elliptic, 0.8–1.3 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, entire.
hypanthium disc-shaped;
sepals obscurely veined, oblong-lanceolate, lanceolate, to elliptic (herbaceous portion oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate to elliptic), 1.5–4 mm, to 4.5 mm in fruit, apex green, ± rounded, not hooded, glabrous;
petals clawed, broadly obovate, 1.5–2.2 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, shallowly notched.
on stipe ca. 0.2 mm, ovoid, 4.5–5 mm, longer than sepals.
on stipe 0.1 mm or shorter, broadly ellipsoid, 3.5 mm, shorter than sepals.
reddish brown, suborbiculate with radicle prolonged into beak, somewhat compressed, 0.4–0.5 mm, tuberculate;
tubercles low, elongate, rounded (to angled on edge) (50x).
brown, obliquely triangular with adaxial groove, radicle prolonged into short beak, compressed, 0.5–0.8 mm, low-tuberculate.
= 24.
= 20.
Minuartia rubella
Minuartia glabra
Distinct among the arctic/alpine Minuartia species with its stiff, three-veined leaves, M. rubella is a circumpolar calciphile. We follow Ö. Nilsson (2001) in not recognizing infraspecific taxa that have been described based at least partly on pubescence. Variety propinqua has been applied to glabrous plants, which occur infrequently and sporadically throughout the range of the species. Where they do occur they are often intermixed with sparsely stipitate-glandular plants. This glabrous variety is rarely encountered in western North America.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Minuartia glabra, along with M. groenlandica (Retzius) Ostenfeld and M. uniflora (Walter) Mattfeld, comprise the so-called granite outcrop arenarias of the southeastern United States. These species have been studied extensively, both systematically (e.g., J. F. McCormick et al. 1971; R. E. Weaver 1970) and for pollination biology (R. Wyatt 1984).
At this time, we follow R. E. Weaver (1970) in maintaining Minuartia glabra separate from M. groenlandica. The species are very similar morpho-logically, including sharing clawed petals and obliquely triangular seeds, like those in most Sagina species but unique among North American Minuartia species; the annual versus perennial habit and, at least in the southeast, phenology and elevation can be used to distinguish these taxa. Further studies in northern populations may be warranted to resolve the question completely.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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