The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

beach sand-spurrey, beach sand-spurry, sticky sand spurry, sticky sand-spurrey

Habit Plants strongly perennial with branched, woody base, stout, 5–40 cm, densely stipitate-glandular in inflorescence or throughout.
Taproots

becoming stout, woody.

Stems

erect or ascending to prostrate, usually branched proximally;

main stem 0.8–3 mm diam. proximally.

Leaves

stipules conspicuous, dull white to tan, narrowly triangular, 4.5–11 mm, apex long-acuminate;

blade linear, (0.6–)1–5.5 cm, fleshy, apex apiculate to spine-tipped;

axillary leaves 1–2+ per cluster.

Pedicels

erect, divergent, or reflexed in fruit.

Flowers

sepals connate 0.5–1.8 mm proximally, lobes often 3-veined, ovate to lanceolate, 4.5–7 mm, to 8 mm in fruit, margins 0.3–0.7 mm wide, apex blunt to rounded;

petals white or pink to rosy, elliptic to obovate, 0.9–1.3 times as long as sepals in flower;

stamens 9–10;

styles 0.6–3 mm.

Capsules

tan, 4.6–10 mm, 0.8–1.4 times as long as sepals.

Seeds

± red-brown, often with submarginal groove or depression, suborbiculate to pyriform, compressed, (0.6–)0.7–1.2 mm, smooth to faintly or prominently tuberculate or sculpturing of parallel, wavy lines or of low, rounded mounds, not papillate;

wing absent or white to reddish brown proximally, 0.1–0.3 mm wide, margins irregular.

Cymes

simple to 3-compound or flowers solitary and axillary.

Spergularia macrotheca

Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC; including nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Petals pink to rosy; styles 0.6-1.2 mm
var. macrotheca
1. Petals white; styles 1.2-3 mm
→ 2
2. Capsules 1.2-1.4 times as long as sepals; styles 1.2-1.9 mm
var. leucantha
2. Capsules 0.8-1 times as long as sepals; styles 2-3 mm
var. longistyla
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 18.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Polycarpoideae > Spergularia
Sibling taxa
S. atrosperma, S. bocconi, S. canadensis, S. diandra, S. echinosperma, S. media, S. platensis, S. rubra, S. salina, S. villosa
Subordinate taxa
S. macrotheca var. leucantha, S. macrotheca var. longistyla, S. macrotheca var. macrotheca
Synonyms Arenaria macrotheca
Name authority (Hornemann ex Chamisso & Schlechtendal) Heynhold: Alph. Aufz. Gew. 689. (1846)
Web links