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clusterstem nailwort, fork-chickweed, hairy fork nailwort, hairy fork whitlow-wort

spreading nailwort

Habit Plants annual; taproot filiform to slender. Plants perennial, often matted; caudex branched, woody.
Stems

erect, usually much-branched, 4–30 cm, retrorsely to spreading-pubescent mostly on 1 side.

prostrate to sprawling, much-branched, 8–15 cm, scabrous-puberulent to puberulent throughout.

Leaves

stipules subulate to lanceolate, 0.5–4.5 mm, apex acuminate, sometimes fimbriate;

blade usually dotted or blotched, oblanceolate to elliptic or obovate, 2–25 × 0.5–7(–10) mm, herbaceous to leathery, apex subobtuse to acute or cuspidate, glabrous or occasionally with very few scattered trichomes along midrib.

stipules lanceolate, 2–8 mm, apex acuminate, entire;

blade linear, 8–15(–23) × 0.5–1 mm, leathery, apex shortly cuspidate, puberulent.

Flowers

5-merous, short-cylindric, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx ± cylindric, 1.1–1.6 mm, glabrous or with few scattered hairs;

sepals greenish to brownish, veins absent, linear-oblong, 1–1.2 mm, leathery to rigid, margins white to translucent, 0.05–0.1 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by mucro, hood narrowly rounded, mucro short-conic, 0.05–0.3 mm, ± minutely scabrous;

staminodes absent;

styles 2, 0.07–0.6(–0.7) mm.

5-merous, ± ovate, with prominently enlarged hypanthium and calyx tapering only slightly distally, 2.3–3.5 mm, puberulent;

sepals green to purple-brown, midrib and lateral pair of veins ± obscure, oblong to lanceolate-oblong, 1.7–2 mm, leathery to rigid, margins whitish to translucent, 0.05–0.1 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by awn, hood prominent, rounded-triangular, awn divergent, conic in proximal 1/2–2/3 with yellowish, scabrous spine 0.7–0.9 mm;

staminodes filiform, 0.5–0.8 mm;

style 1, cleft in distal 1/3–2/3, 0.8–1.4 mm.

Cymes

terminal, 25–70+-flowered, branched, loose to compact, forming clusters 3–10 mm wide.

terminal, 3–7-flowered, branched, congested, in clusters 7–25 mm wide.

Utricles

obovoid to obconic, 0.7–1 mm, minutely papillate.

± ovoid, 0.8–0.9 mm, smooth, glabrous.

2n

= 32, 36.

= 32.

Paronychia fastigiata

Paronychia depressa

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Dry plains, rocky ridges, hillsides
Elevation 800-3000 m (2600-9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON; QC
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from FNA
CO; SD; WY
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Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

The varieties here recognized are sympatric over at least portions of their ranges. A detailed study on infraspecific variation within Paronychia fastigiata is warranted.

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

Paronychia depressa is considered to be closely related to the nearly allopatric P. jamesii.

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

Key
1. Styles 0.3-0.6(-0.7) mm, often bent or contorted
var. pumila
1. Styles 0.07-0.25(-0.3) mm, straight
→ 2
2. Sepal cusps 0.2-0.3 mm
var. nuttallii
2. Sepal cusps 0.05-0.15 mm
var. fastigiata
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 37. FNA vol. 5, p. 36.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia
Sibling taxa
P. ahartii, P. americana, P. argyrocoma, P. baldwinii, P. canadensis, P. chartacea, P. congesta, P. depressa, P. drummondii, P. echinulata, P. erecta, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
P. fastigiata var. fastigiata, P. fastigiata var. nuttallii, P. fastigiata var. pumila
Synonyms Anychia fastigiata P. jamesii var. depressa, P. depressa var. brevicuspis, P. depressa var. diffusa
Name authority (Rafinesque) Fernald: Rhodora 38: 421. (1936) (Torrey & A. Gray) Nuttall ex A. Nelson: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 236. (1899)
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