Paronychia franciscana |
Paronychia virginica |
|
---|---|---|
California whitlow wort, San Francisco nailwort, San Francisco whitlow wort |
Appalachian nailwort, Virginia nailwort, yellow nailwort |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, mat-forming; caudex branched, woody. | Plants perennial; caudex branched, woody. |
Stems | prostrate, usually much-branched throughout, 5–50 cm, pubescent. |
procumbent, branched from base, hirtellose; flowering stems 7–45 cm; sterile stems 3–10 cm. |
Leaves | stipules ovate-lanceolate, 3–6 mm, apex narrowly acute to long-acuminate, entire; blade elliptic to oblanceolate, 5–10 × 1.5–2.5 mm, ± fleshy, apex spinulous, entire, ± moderately antrorsely appressed-pubescent. |
stipules narrowly lanceolate, 6–13 mm, apex acuminate, often deeply cleft; blade linear, 10–30 × 0.4–1 mm, leathery, apex short-spinose, minutely hirtellous to puberulent. |
Flowers | 5-merous, short-cylindric, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx cylindric to slightly tapering distally, 1.9–2.4 mm, glabrous, sepals puberulent distally; sepals greenish, becoming reddish brown, midrib and lateral pair of veins often apparent, oblong to ovate, 1.2–1.3 mm, herbaceous, margins translucent, ca. 0.1 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by awn, hood broadly rounded, awn erect, 0.5–0.7 mm, conic in proximal 1/6 with whitish, smooth spine; staminodes absent; styles 2, 0.2–0.3 mm. |
5-merous, narrowly ovoid, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx tapering gradually distally, 2.8–5.1 mm, glabrous to puberulent, especially proximally; sepals brown to yellowish, midrib and lateral pair of veins prominent, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 2–2.9 mm, leathery to rigid, margins whitish, 0.1–0.2 mm wide, papery, apex terminated by awn, hood rounded-triangular, awn curved outward, green to red-brown, ± conic, 0.4–1.1 mm, scabrous, distinct spine absent; staminodes filiform, 0.8–1 mm; style 1, cleft in distal 1/5, 1.2–2 mm. |
Cymes | axillary, inconspicuous, 2–6-flowered, tightly congested. |
terminal, 3–10+-flowered, somewhat open to compact, often forming clusters 6–30 mm wide. |
Utricles | ± globose to 4-angled, 1.2–1.3 mm, papillate distally. |
ovoid to obovoid, 1.8–2 mm, smooth, glabrous. |
Paronychia franciscana |
Paronychia virginica |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Grassy hills | On or among rocks |
Elevation | 20-300 m (100-1000 ft) | 700-1300 m (2300-4300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; South America (Chile) [Introduced in North America]
|
AL; AR; DC; MD; MO; NC; OK; TN; TX; VA; WV
|
Discussion | Although Paronychia franciscana was described from California, where it has been known from the San Francisco area since 1887, the species is native in Chile. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cory established var. scoparia for the western populations to reflect the disjunct distribution. Paronychia dichotoma (Linnaeus) Nuttall (1818), sometimes applied to this species, is a later homonym of P. dichotoma de Candolle (1805); see E. L. Core (1940). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 38. | FNA vol. 5, p. 42. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Paronychioideae > Paronychia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. parksii, P. scoparia, P. virginica var. parksii, P. virginica var. scoparia | |
Name authority | Eastwood: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 288. (1901) | Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 1: 822. (1824) |
Web links |