CARYOPHYLLACEAE

PINK FAMILY

Ronald L. Hartman (except Silene)

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 ).

MINUARTIA

SANDWORT

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: cyme, terminal or axillary; flowers 2–many, open to ± dense, or flower solitary; peduncles and pedicels 0.5–35+ mm
Flower: hypanthium short, obscure; sepals 5, ± free, 1.9–7 mm, ± lanceolate to ovate, glabrous to glandular-hairy; petals 5 or 0, 0.7–10 mm, entire or notched; stamens arising from an obscure to prominent disk; styles 3, 0.3–2 mm
Fruit: capsule, narrowly ovoid to widely elliptic; teeth 3, ascending to recurved
Seeds 1–many, reddish tan to reddish, purplish, or blackish brown
Species in genus: 120 species: arctic to Mex, n Africa, s Asia
Etymology: (J. Minuart, Spanish botanist & pharmacist, 1693–1768)
Reference: [McNeill 1980 Rhodora 82: 495–502]

Native

M. rubella (Wahlenb.) Hiern

Perennial, cespitose, 2–8(10) cm, green, densely glandular-hairy; taproot < 1.5 mm diam; rhizomes and trailing stems 0
Stem ascending to erect
Leaves 1.5–10 mm, 0.3–0.8 mm wide, < to > internodes, needle-like, ± straight, flexible, mostly near base; axillary leaves well developed
Flower: sepals 2.5–3.2 mm, acute to acuminate, margin not incurved, ribs 3; petals 0.8–1 X sepals
Seed 0.3–0.5 mm; margin thick, reddish brown
Chromosomes: 2n=24
Ecology: Rocky ridges and slopes, unglaciated metamorphics and granitics
Elevation: 2400–3800 m.
Bioregional distribution: Klamath Ranges, c&s High Sierra Nevada
Distribution outside California: to Arizona, Colorado, circumboreal
Synonyms: Arenaria r. (Wahlenb.) Sm