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Baldwin's nailwort

silverling, silvery nailwort, silvery whitlow-wort

Habit Plants annual, biennial, or perennial, often matted; taproot slender. Plants perennial, matted; caudex woody.
Stems

prostrate to erect, branched, 5–70 cm, mostly retrorsely to spreading-pubescent on 1 side or throughout.

prostrate to ascending, much-branched, 5–60 cm, often retrorsely pubescent on 1 side.

Leaves

stipules lanceolate, 2–6 mm, apex acuminate, entire;

blade oblong to elliptic or oblanceolate, 3–25 × 1–6 mm, herbaceous, apex acute and briefly cuspidate, glabrous.

stipules lanceolate, 2.5–8 mm, apex acute, entire;

blade linear to linear-lanceolate or -oblanceolate, 5–30 × 0.5–2 mm, leathery, apex acute, often mucronate, sparsely appressed-pubescent.

Flowers

5-merous, ± short-cylindric, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx cylindric, 1–1.7 mm, glabrous to pubescent with short hairs, often minutely ciliate, sometimes glaucous;

sepals greenish or greenish white to brownish, veins absent, ovate to oblong, 0.8–1.3 mm, herbaceous, margins white, 0.05–0.1 mm wide, scarious to papery, apex terminated by minute cusp, hood narrowly rounded, cusp light green to whitish, straight, short-conic, 0.1–0.15 mm, minutely scabrous;

staminodes subulate, 0.2–0.3 mm;

style 1, cleft in distal 4/5+, 0.2–0.4 mm.

5-merous, short-cylindric to ovoid, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx cylindric to tapering distally, 3.5–6.5 mm, pubescent with antrorse, slightly spreading, silky hairs;

sepals greenish to brownish, veins 3, obscure, ribs absent, narrowly lanceolate, 2–3.2 mm, leathery to rigid, margins translucent, ca. 0.1 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by awn, hood narrowly triangular, awn straight to slightly divergent, white, 0.9–2 mm, scabrous, spinose;

staminodes narrowly triangular, 0.4–0.6 mm;

style 1, cleft in distal 1/6, 1.4–2 mm.

Cymes

terminal, 20–40+-flowered, diffuse, lax, repeatedly forked or dichotomous.

terminal, 15–25+-flowered, very compact, forming conspicuous glomerules 10–20 mm wide.

Utricles

ellipsoid, 1–1.3 mm, papillate distally.

oblong, 1.5–1.8 mm, smooth, pubescent distally.

Paronychia baldwinii

Paronychia argyrocoma

Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering spring–early fall.
Habitat Dunes, woodlands, fields, clearings, roadsides, riverbanks, hummocks, waste places On or among rocks
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 200-1800 m (700-5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; NC; SC; VA
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from FNA
GA; KY; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; TN; VA; VT; WV
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Chaudhri used duration and pubescence to recognize two subspecies of Paronychia baldwinii, characters that L. H. Shinners (1962c) found to vary independently in this species.

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

Plants of Paronychia argyrocoma with glabrous or barely scabrous leaves and glabrous sepal awns have sometimes been recognized as var. albimontana. They are found in both the southern and northern areas of the species range, but, curiously, not in the central portion (M. N. Chaudhri 1968).

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 34. FNA vol. 5, p. 33.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia
Sibling taxa
P. ahartii, P. americana, P. argyrocoma, P. canadensis, P. chartacea, P. congesta, P. depressa, P. drummondii, P. echinulata, P. erecta, P. fastigiata, P. franciscana, P. herniarioides, P. jamesii, P. jonesii, P. lindheimeri, P. maccartii, P. monticola, P. patula, P. pulvinata, P. rugelii, P. sessiliflora, P. setacea, P. virginica, P. wilkinsonii
P. ahartii, P. americana, P. baldwinii, P. canadensis, P. chartacea, P. congesta, P. depressa, P. drummondii, P. echinulata, P. erecta, P. fastigiata, P. franciscana, P. herniarioides, P. jamesii, P. jonesii, P. lindheimeri, P. maccartii, P. monticola, P. patula, P. pulvinata, P. rugelii, P. sessiliflora, P. setacea, P. virginica, P. wilkinsonii
Synonyms Anychia baldwinii, Anychiasatrum baldwinii, Anychiasatrum riparium, P. baldwinii var. ciliata, P. baldwinii subsp. riparia, P. riparia Anychia argyrocoma, P. argyrocoma subsp. albimontana, P. argyrocoma var. albimontana
Name authority (Torrey & A. Gray) Fenzl ex Walpers: Repert. Bot. Syst. 1: 262. (1842) (Michaux) Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 160. (1818)
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