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Rocky Mountain nailwort

Habit Plants perennial, densely cespitose, cushion-forming; caudex much-branched, woody.
Stems

prostrate, much-branched, 5–10 cm, puberulent.

Leaves

stipules ovate, 3–6 mm, apex subobtuse, entire;

blade narrowly elliptic-oblong or oblong to narrowly elliptic-oblanceolate, 2–5 × 0.2–1.8(–2) mm, fleshy, apex obtuse to subacute, glabrous.

Flowers

mostly solitary at end of shoots, almost concealed by leaves.;

flowers 5-merous, elliptic-oblong, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx straight to tapering distally, 2.5–2.8 mm, densely appressed-puberulent, sparsely so distally;

sepals whitish to green, veins absent, narrowly oblong to ovate-oblong, 1.5–1.7 mm, papery to herbaceous, margins white, 0.2–0.3 mm wide, papery, apex with subterminal awn, hood ascending as continuation of sepal, broadly rounded to notched, awn erect, white, 0.3–0.6(–1) mm, ± glabrous spine;

staminodes filiform, 0.7–0.9 mm;

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

Utricles

ovoid, 1.3–1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous.

2n

= 32.

Paronychia pulvinata

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Rocky slopes and summit screes in alpine regions
Elevation 3300-4200 m (10800-13800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 40.
Parent taxa 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. fastigiata, P. franciscana, P. herniarioides, P. jamesii, P. jonesii, P. lindheimeri, P. maccartii, P. monticola, P. patula, P. rugelii, P. sessiliflora, P. setacea, P. virginica, P. wilkinsonii
Synonyms P. pulvinata var. longiaristata
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 15: 58. (1864)
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