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childing pink, pink grass, proliferous childing-pink, proliferous pink, prolific petrorhagia

Habit Plants annual.
Stems

erect, simple or branched, (6–)20–30(–60) cm;

internodes glabrous or midstem ones slightly scabrous.

Leaves

sheath 1–2 mm, ± as long as wide;

blade 3-veined, linear to linear-lanceolate, 10–30 mm, margins serrate-scabrous.

Inflorescences

capitate;

inflorescence bracts and involucel bracteoles enclosing flowers, broadly ovate, brown-scarious, apex obtuse or of outer bracts mucronate.

Pedicels

0.1–1.5 mm.

Flowers

sepals (7–)10–12 mm;

petals pink to slightly purplish (rarely white), primary veins 1, veins not darkly colored near base of blade, apex truncate or emarginate.

Seeds

shield-shaped, 1.1–1.6(–1.8) mm, fine to coarsely reticulate.

2n

= 30 (Europe).

Petrorhagia prolifera

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Roadsides, ballast, fields
Elevation 0-1100 m (0-3600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DE; GA; ID; KY; MD; MI; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OK; PA; TN; VA; BC; c Eurasia; s Eurasia [Introduced in North America; introduced in Europe (Great Britain)]
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Discussion

Historical records for Petrorhagia prolifera exist also for California (1902; Congdon s.n., MIN), Ohio (last collected in 1896; Stair s.n., OS), and South Carolina (1800s; Durand s.n., NY).

Petrorhagia prolifera has been known in the northeastern United States since at least 1837, and its range has since expanded, with isolated populations occurring southwestward from New Jersey toward Arkansas and Oklahoma as well as western Michigan. Some introductions may have been as a contaminant in grass seed used for highway planting in Tennessee (B. E. Wofford et al. 1977). Literature reports of P. prolifera in Louisiana and West Virginia have not been confirmed.

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 164.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Petrorhagia
Sibling taxa
P. dubia, P. nanteuilii, P. saxifraga
Synonyms Dianthus prolifer, Kohlrauschia prolifera, Tunica prolifera
Name authority (Linnaeus) P. W. Ball & Heywood: Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Bot. 3: 161. (1964)
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