| TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Annual, biennial, perennial herb, rarely dioecious, taprooted or rhizome generally slender
Leaves simple, generally opposite; stipules generally 0; petiole generally 0; blade entire, sheath generally 0
Inflorescence: cyme, generally open; flowers few–many or flower solitary and axillary; involucre generally 0
Flower generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium sometimes present; sepals generally 5, ± free or fused into a tube, tube generally herbaceous between lobes or teeth; awns generally 0; petals generally 5 or 0, generally tapered to base (or with claw long, blade expanded), entire to 2–several-lobed, blade generally without scale-like appendages (inner surface), generally without ear-like lobes at base; stamens generally 10, generally fertile, generally free, generally from ovary base; nectaries generally 0; ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, placentas basal or free-central, styles 2–5 or 1 and 2–3-branched
Fruit: capsule or utricle (rarely modified, dehiscent), generally sessile
Seeds: appendage generally 0
Genera in family: 85 genera, 2400 species: widespread, especially arctic, alpine, temp, n hemisphere; some cultivated (Agrostemma, Arenaria, Cerastium, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Saponaria, Silene, Vaccaria ).
Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Greek: chaff fingernail, from silvery, chaffy sepals)
| Native |
Annual, prostrate to ascending, glabrous to ± hairy, taprooted
Stems many, 3–17 cm
Leaf: stipules 0.1–0.4 mm, ± ovate, scarious, ± fringed, white; blade 3–20 mm, oblanceolate; vein 1
Inflorescence: cyme, axillary; flowers 20–60+; pedicels 0.5–2.5 mm
Flower 2.5–3 mm; hypanthium in fruit ± cylindric; calyx abruptly expanded above; sepals 5, free, ± 1.2–1.5 mm, ovate to reniform, green, fleshy, margin wide, scarious, ± jagged, white, deciduous; petals 0; fertile stamens 1–2, sterile stamens 14–19, ± 0.5 mm, thread-like, arising from hypanthium rim; ovary superior, style 2-branched in upper 1/2, 0.3–0.4 mm
Fruit: utricle, ovoid; teeth 8–10, minute
Seed 1, ± 1 mm, ovoid, ± compressed, tan, red dot near narrow end
Ecology: Sandy slopes, flats, washes
Elevation: 50–700 m.
Bioregional distribution: Desert
Distribution outside California: Arizona, Mexico
Flowering time: Jan–May
Closely related to and possibly same as Scopulophila.