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lesser sea-spurrey, salt marsh sand-spurry, salt sandspurry, salt-marsh sand-spurrey, spergulaire des arais salés

Habit Plants annual, delicate, 8–25(–30) cm, stipitate-glandular, at least in inflorescence. Herbs [small shrubs], winter annual, annual, or perennial; taprooted, not rhizomatous.
Taproots

± slender.

Stems

erect to ascending or prostrate, usually much-branched proximally;

main stem 0.6–2(–3) mm diam. proximally.

prostrate to erect, simple or branched.

Leaves

stipules inconspicuous, dull white, broadly triangular, 1.2–3.5 mm, longer than wide, apex acute to short-acuminate;

blade linear, (0.8–)1.5–4 cm, fleshy, apex blunt to apiculate;

axillary leaf clusters usually absent.

opposite or sometimes appearing whorled, bases connate or not, sometimes petiolate or often sessile, stipulate;

stipules ovate or deltate to lanceolate or bristlelike, scarious;

blade subulate or subtriangular to linear and threadlike or spatulate to ovate or orbiculate, seldom succulent.

Inflorescences

terminal or axillary cymes, or flowers solitary;

bracts scarious or absent;

involucel bracteoles absent.

Pedicels

reflexed and oriented to 1 side in fruit.

present or flowers sessile.

Flowers

sepals connate 0.5–1 mm proximally, lobes often 3-veined, ovate to elliptic, 2.5–4.5 mm, to 4.8 mm in fruit, margins 0.1–0.5 mm wide, apex acute to rounded;

petals white or pink to rosy, ovate to elliptic-oblong, 0.8–1 times as long as sepals;

stamens (1–)2–3(–5);

styles 0.4–0.7 mm.

bisexual or rarely unisexual;

perianth and androecium hypogynous or perigynous;

hypanthium absent or dish- or cup-shaped;

sepals 5, distinct or sometimes connate proximally, hooded (Drymaria, Polycarpon) or not, awned (Polycarpon) or not;

petals absent or (3–)5, blade clawed (Drymaria) or not, auricles absent, coronal appendages absent, blade apex entire, erose, or 2(–4)-fid, sometimes emarginate;

stamens (1–)3–5(–10), in 1 or 2 whorls, usually arising from base of ovary or from rim of hypanthium (Spergula, Spergularia);

staminodes absent;

ovary 1-locular;

styles 1 or 3, occasionally 2 or 5, distinct or sometimes connate proximally;

stigmas 3, occasionally 2 or 5.

Fruits

capsules, opening by 3 or 5, occasionally 4 valves;

carpophore sometimes present.

Capsules

greenish to tan, 2.8–6.4 mm, 1–1.5 times as long as sepals.

Seeds

light brown to reddish brown, with submarginal groove, broadly ovate, ± plump, 0.5–0.7(–0.8) mm, dull, ± smooth, often with gland-tipped papillae (30x);

wing usually absent or incomplete.

3–150+, whitish or tan to often brown or black, ± triangular, pyriform, or reniform to circular, subglobose or laterally compressed to angular (Polycarpon);

embryo peripheral, curved or rarely annular to spirally curved (Spergula).

Cymes

simple to 3+-compound or flowers solitary and axillary.

x

= [7], 8, 9, (11), 12.

2n

= 18? (Asia), 36 (Europe).

Spergularia salina

Caryophyllaceae subfam. polycarpoideae

Phenology Flowering summer–early fall.
Habitat Mud flats, alkaline fields, sandy river bottoms, sandy coasts, salt marshes, saline highway edges (Great Lakes region)
Elevation 0-1400 m (0-4600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TX; UT; VA; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; SPM; Eurasia; almost cosmopolitan via introduction [Introduced and native]
[WildflowerSearch map]
w North America (including Mexico); w South America; Europe (Mediterranean region); Asia (Mediterranean region); Africa (Mediterranean and tropical regions); less diverse in temperate areas
Discussion

While Spergularia salina may be native in coastal areas and some inland saline sites in much of the cited range, populations in the Great Lakes region are introduced where, as in S. media, highway and sidewalk salt runoff has created favorable habitats.

Variety tenuis has been distinguished from var. salina by some authors as follows: cyme crowded versus lax, sepals 1.6–3.8 mm versus 2.4–5 mm, mature capsules 3–4.4 mm versus 3.6–6.4 mm, respectively. Due to the extreme overlap in morphologic features as well as geographic ranges, var. tenuis is not recognized here.

The name Spergularia marina var. leiosperma (Kindberg) Gurke has been applied to plants with smooth seeds but, as pointed out by R. P. Rossbach (1940), separation of plants with smooth versus papillose seeds is not practical.

Some authors believe that the correct name for this species is Spergularia marina.

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

Genera 16, species ca. 210 (7 genera, 28 species in the flora).

More commonly recognized as a tribe, Polycarpoideae is characterized by the presence of stipules, well-developed petals, and capsules. It is a relatively small group, with about four-fifths of the species in Drymaria, Polycarpaea, and Spergularia. Although clearly stipulate, Spergularia clusters with members of Alsinoideae in recent molecular studies (M. Nepokroeff et al. 2002; R. D. Smissen et al. 2002).

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 22. FNA vol. 5, p. 9. Authors: Richard K. Rabeler, Ronald L. Hartman.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Polycarpoideae > Spergularia Caryophyllaceae
Sibling taxa
S. atrosperma, S. bocconi, S. canadensis, S. diandra, S. echinosperma, S. macrotheca, S. media, S. platensis, S. rubra, S. villosa
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms S. marina, S. marina var. tenuis, S. salina var. tenuis, S. tenuis, Tissa marina
Name authority J. Presl & C. Presl: Fl. ech. 95. (1819) Tanfani: in F. Parlatore, Fl. Ital. 9: 623. (1892)
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