The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Baldwin's nailwort

squareflower

Habit Plants annual, biennial, or perennial, often matted; taproot slender. Plants perennial (occasionally biennial), often matted; taproot stout.
Stems

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

prostrate to ascending, branched especially distally, retrorsely to spreading-pubescent throughout (when pubescent); flowering stems 8–48 cm;

sterile stems 2–10 cm.

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 ovate-lanceolate, 2–12 mm, apex acuminate, entire;

blade linear to spatulate-oblanceolate, 4–40 × 1–4 mm, leathery, apex obtuse to acute, moderately antrorsely 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, narrowly ellipsoid, with slightly enlarged hypanthium and calyx tapering distally, 2.3–3.5 mm, glabrous to slightly puberulent proximally with straight to hooked hairs;

sepals red-brown, white or whitish distally, veins absent, narrowly oblong to lanceolate-oblong, 1.4–2 mm, papery, margins white, ca. 0.1 mm wide, papery, apex rounded, hood formed from slight incurving, awn or mucro absent;

staminodes narrowly oblong, 0.4 mm;

style 1, cleft in distal 1/10, 1.3–1.7 mm.

Cymes

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

terminal, 15–200+-flowered, branched, densely to loosely grouped to form subcorymbose clusters 5–50 mm wide.

Utricles

ellipsoid, 1–1.3 mm, papillate distally.

ovoid to ellipsoid, 1–1.2 mm, rugulose, glabrous.

Paronychia baldwinii

Paronychia erecta

Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Dunes, woodlands, fields, clearings, roadsides, riverbanks, hummocks, waste places Coastal dunes, sandflats, pine/oak woodlands
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 0-100 m (0-300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; LA; MS
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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 with pubescent stems, strigose leaves, and pubescent receptacles have been recognized as var. corymbosa.

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 34. FNA vol. 5, p. 37.
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. argyrocoma, P. baldwinii, P. canadensis, P. chartacea, P. congesta, P. depressa, P. drummondii, P. echinulata, 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 Siphonychia erecta, Odontonychia corymbosa, Odontonychia erecta, P. erecta var. corymbosa
Name authority (Torrey & A. Gray) Fenzl ex Walpers: Repert. Bot. Syst. 1: 262. (1842) (Chapman) Shinners: Sida 1: 102. (1962)
Web links