Common Name: PINK FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb; rarely dioecious (Silene), taprooted or rhizome generally slender. Leaf: simple, generally opposite (subwhorled), entire, pairs at nodes often +- connected at bases; stipules generally 0; petiole generally 0. Inflorescence: generally cyme, generally open; flowers 1--many; involucre generally 0 (present in most Dianthus, Petrorhagia). Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium often present but obscure; sepals (4)5, +- free or fused into a tube, margins generally scarious, more so on inner 2 or not, tube generally not scarious, awns generally 0; petals (4)5 or 0, generally tapered to base (or with claw long, limb expanded), entire to 2--several-lobed, limb generally without scale-like appendages adaxially, generally without ear-like lobes at base; stamens generally 10, generally fertile, generally free, generally from ovary base; nectaries 0 or 5; ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, placentas basal or free-central, styles 2--5 with 0 branches or 1 with 2--3 branches. Fruit: capsule or utricle (rarely +- dehiscent), generally sessile. Seed: appendage generally 0 (present in Moehringia).
Genera In Family: +- 100 genera, 3000 species: widespread, especially arctic, alpine, temperate northern hemisphere; some cultivated (Agrostemma, Arenaria, Atocion, Cerastium, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Sagina, Saponaria, Silene). Note: Apetalous Caryophyllaceae can also be keyed in Rabeler & Hartman 2005 FNANM 5:5--8. Taxa of Minuartia in TJM2 treated here in Cherleria and Sabulina; Pseudostellaria in Hartmaniella and Torreyostellaria; Vaccaria in Gypsophila; Velezia in Dianthus.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald L. Hartman (deceased) & Richard K. Rabeler, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin & Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: SANDWORT
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, erect to mat-forming, taprooted or rhizomed. Leaf: blade thread-like to awl-shaped or narrowly oblong; veins or ribs 1--3. Inflorescence: terminal or axillary, open to +- dense; flowers 1--many; peduncles, pedicels 0.5--35+ mm. Flower: hypanthium short, obscure; sepals 5, +- free, 1.9--7 mm, +- lanceolate to ovate, glabrous to glandular-hairy, +- acute to acuminate, margin not incurved; petals 5 or 0, 0.7--10 mm, white, entire or notched; stamens on an obscure to prominent disk; styles 3, 0.3--2 mm. Fruit: capsule, narrowly ovoid to widely elliptic; valves 3, ascending to recurved. Seed: 1--many, red-tan to red-, purple-, or black-brown.
Etymology: (Latin: growing on sand, for habitat)
eFlora Treatment Author: Abigail J. Moore, Ronald L. Hartman (deceased) & Richard K. Rabeler
Reference: Rabeler et al. 2005 FNANM 5:116--136; Dillenberger & Kadereit 2014 Taxon 63:64--88
Unabridged Reference: Meinke & Zika 1992 Madroño 39:288--300

Common Name: NUTTALL'S SANDWORT
Habit: Perennial herb, mat-forming, 2--20 cm, densely glandular-hairy, +- green; taproot > 3 mm diam; rhizomes, trailing stems < 60+ cm. Stem: in flower ascending to erect. Leaf: 5--12(15) mm, +- 0.3--1.1 mm wide, > internodes, needle-like to awl-shaped, straight to recurved, +- rigid, +- evenly spaced; axillary leaves well developed. Flower: sepals 3.5--7 mm, acute to acuminate, ribs 1 or 3; petals 0.7--1.6 × sepals. Seed: 1.5--2.2 mm; margin thick, red-brown to dark brown. Chromosomes: 2n=36.
Note: 1 other variety, extending sp. range to British Columbia, Alberta.