Paronychia canadensis |
Paronychia erecta |
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fork-chickweed, smooth fork whitlow-wort, smooth-fork nailwort |
squareflower |
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Habit | Plants annual; taproot filiform to slender. | Plants perennial (occasionally biennial), often matted; taproot stout. |
Stems | erect, dichotomously branched, 3–40 cm, ultimate branches filiform, glabrous. |
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 subulate to lanceolate, 0.5–4 mm, apex acuminate, entire; blade usually dotted or blotched, elliptic to obovate, 3–30 × 1–11 mm, herbaceous, apex acute to obtuse or 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, 0.9–1.3 mm, glabrous; sepals greenish to brownish, midrib and lateral pair of veins prominent, ovate to oblong, 0.5–1 mm, herbaceous, margins white to translucent, 0.03–0.1 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by mucro, hood rounded-triangular, mucro triangular, 0.07–0.15 mm, glabrous; staminodes absent or indistinct; styles 2, 0.2–0.3 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 | diffuse, flowers solitary (paired) in axils of leafy bracts. |
terminal, 15–200+-flowered, branched, densely to loosely grouped to form subcorymbose clusters 5–50 mm wide. |
Utricles | ovoid to globose, ca. 0.5 mm, granular in distal 1/2, glabrous. |
ovoid to ellipsoid, 1–1.2 mm, rugulose, glabrous. |
Paronychia canadensis |
Paronychia erecta |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Woodlands, thickets, fields, clearings, roadsides, waste places | Coastal dunes, sandflats, pine/oak woodlands |
Elevation | 0-1300 m (0-4300 ft) | 0-100 m (0-300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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AL; FL; LA; MS
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Discussion | 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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 34. | FNA vol. 5, p. 37. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Queria canadensis, Anychia canadensis | Siphonychia erecta, Odontonychia corymbosa, Odontonychia erecta, P. erecta var. corymbosa |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Alph. Wood: Class-Book Bot. ed. s.n.(b), 262. (1861) | (Chapman) Shinners: Sida 1: 102. (1962) |
Web links |