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Rocky Mountain nailwort

fork-chickweed, smooth fork whitlow-wort, smooth-fork nailwort

Habit Plants perennial, densely cespitose, cushion-forming; caudex much-branched, woody. Plants annual; taproot filiform to slender.
Stems

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

erect, dichotomously branched, 3–40 cm, ultimate branches filiform, glabrous.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Utricles

ovoid, 1.3–1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous.

ovoid to globose, ca. 0.5 mm, granular in distal 1/2, glabrous.

Cymes

diffuse, flowers solitary (paired) in axils of leafy bracts.

2n

= 32.

Paronychia pulvinata

Paronychia canadensis

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes and summit screes in alpine regions Woodlands, thickets, fields, clearings, roadsides, waste places
Elevation 3300-4200 m (10800-13800 ft) 0-1300 m (0-4300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 40. FNA vol. 5, p. 34.
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. 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
P. ahartii, P. americana, P. argyrocoma, P. baldwinii, 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
Synonyms P. pulvinata var. longiaristata Queria canadensis, Anychia canadensis
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 15: 58. (1864) (Linnaeus) Alph. Wood: Class-Book Bot. ed. s.n.(b), 262. (1861)
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