Flora of North America species comparison

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

erect, green or reddish, simple or branched near base, not wiry, 1.5–5 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.

uniformly distributed, dense, not articulated to ocreae, basal leaves persistent or caducous, distal leaves gradually reduced to bracts;

ocrea 3–6 mm, glabrous, proximal part cylindric, distal part disintegrating almost to base, with whitish, straight, rigid fibers;

petiole absent;

blade 3-veined, without pleats, linear to lanceolate, 10–20 × 0.6–2.7 mm, margins revolute, smooth, apex spine-tipped.

axillary;

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

axillary;

cymes in most axils, 2–3-flowered.

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

enclosed in ocreae, erect, 0.1–1 mm.

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.

closed;

perianth 2.3–2.7 mm;

tube 3–7% of perianth length;

tepals overlapping, whitish with whitish or pink margins, petaloid, oblong, navicular, dimorphic, outer 2 shorter than inner 3, outer 2 0.8–1.2 mm, inner 2.3–2.7 mm, papillose at base, apex acute or acuminate;

midveins unbranched;

stamens 5–6.

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, olive brown, narrowly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm, faces subequal, shiny, smooth.