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Rugel's nailwort, sand squares

Rio Grande nailwort

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

erect, dichotomously branched, 5–50 cm, retrorsely to spreading- pubescent throughout.

erect, 6–10 cm, evenly puberulent with spreading hairs.

Leaves

stipules ovate-lanceolate, 2–6 mm, apex acuminate, entire;

blade linear to linear-oblanceolate or linear-oblong, 3–25 × 1–2.3 mm, herbaceous, apex ± acute, moderately antrorsely puberulent.

stipules lanceolate, 4–7 mm, apex acuminate, entire;

blade linear or needlelike, 4–7 × ca. 0.5 mm, leathery, apex spinulose, puberulous.

Flowers

5-merous, cylindric to narrowly lanceolate, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx cylindric to tapering distally, 2.3–3.5 mm, pubescent mostly proximal with hooked or usually straight hairs, sometimes with scattered straight hairs distally;

sepals flecked or solid red-brown, white distally, midrib obscure, linear-lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm, papery, margins white, 0.1–0.2 mm wide, papery, apex terminated by mucro, hood obscure, narrowly rounded, mucro short-conic, ca. 0.1 mm, glabrous;

staminodes filiform, widening proximally, 0.5–0.6 mm;

style 1, cleft in distal 1/10.

5-merous, extended-urecolate, with prominent hypanthial bulge and calyx tapering somewhat distally, 2.8–3.1 mm, moderately pubescent with straight, spreading to appressed hairs generally throughout;

sepals green to red-brown, veins absent or midrib and lateral pair of veins evident in fruit, lanceolate to oblong, 1.3–1.5 mm, leathery to rigid, margins translucent, less than 0.05 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by awn, hood prominent, narrowly rounded, awn widely divergent, 0.5–0.7 mm, broadly conic in proximal 1/2–2/3 with yellowish, ± glabrous spine;

staminodes subulate, ca. 0.5 mm;

style 1, 2-lobed in distal 1/3–3/5, 0.5–0.7 mm.

Cymes

terminal and lateral, 15–50+-flowered, often forming large, congested clusters 5–30 mm wide.

terminal, 7–28+-flowered, branched, mostly congested in clusters 5–15 mm wide.

Utricles

broadly ellipsoid to ± globose, 0.5–0.7 mm, smooth, glabrous.

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

Paronychia rugelii

Paronychia congesta

Phenology Flowering late spring–fall. Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Woodlands, fields, clearings, roadsides, waste places Thorn scrubland openings
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 200-300 m (700-1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

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

Of conservation concern.

Paronychia congesta is known only from two collections in Jim Hogg County.

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 41. 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. fastigiata, P. franciscana, P. herniarioides, P. jamesii, P. jonesii, P. lindheimeri, P. maccartii, P. monticola, P. patula, P. pulvinata, P. sessiliflora, P. setacea, P. virginica, P. wilkinsonii
P. ahartii, P. americana, P. argyrocoma, P. baldwinii, P. canadensis, P. chartacea, 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 Siphonychia rugelii, Gibbesia rugelii, Odontonychia interior, P. rugelii var. interior, Siphonychia interior
Name authority (Chapman) Shuttleworth ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 3, 397. (1897) Correll: Brittonia 18: 307. (1967)
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