Flora of North America species comparison

prostrate to erect, branched, flexuous, 5–200 cm.

erect, brown, simple, wiry, gnarled with age, 20–60 cm, glabrous.

ocrea 3–15 mm, proximal part cylindric or ± funnelform, distal part silvery, hyaline, soon disintegrating into persistent fibers or nearly completely deciduous;

petiole 0.3–9 mm;

blade green to gray-green, narrowly elliptic, lanceolate, elliptic, obovate, or spatulate, 6–50(–60) × 0.5–22 mm, margins flat, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded;

stem leaves 1–4 times as long as adjacent branch leaves;

distal leaves overtopping flowers.

crowded at branch tips, not articulated to ocreae, basal leaves caducous or persistent, distal leaves abruptly reduced to bracts;

ocrea 6–10 mm, glabrous or papillose-scabridulous, proximal part cylindric, distal part silvery, deeply fringed, disintegrating;

petiole absent;

blade 3-veined, without pleats, linear to subulate, 3–15(–25) × 0.4–1.5 mm, margins flat, smooth, apex acuminate to spine-tipped.

axillary;

cymes uniformly distributed or aggregated at tips of stems and branches, 1–6(–8)-flowered.

axillary;

cymes in distal axils, 1–2-flowered.

enclosed in or exserted from ocreae, 1.5–5 mm.

absent.

closed or semi-open;

perianth 1.8–5.5 mm;

tube 20–57% of perianth length;

tepals overlapping or not, green or reddish brown with white, pink, or red margins, petaloid, not keeled, oblong to obovate, often cucullate in fruit;

midveins branched or unbranched, thickened or not;

stamens 5–8.

semi-open;

perianth 2.6–3.2 mm;

tube 18–33% of perianth length;

tepals overlapping, ± recurved, uniformly white to pink, petaloid, elliptic-oblong to obovate, navicular, apex rounded;

midveins unbranched;

stamens 8.

enclosed in or exserted from perianth, light to dark brown, ovate, (2–)3-gonous, 1.2–4.2 mm, faces subequal or unequal, apex not beaked, edges slightly concave, dull, usually coarsely striate-tubercled, sometimes obscurely tubercled; late-season achenes common or not, 2–5 mm.

enclosed in perianth, light brown, lanceolate to oblong-ovate, 2.5–3 mm, faces subequal, shiny, smooth.