Corema conradii

Plants diffusely branched, 15-60 cm; bark gray to orange-red, exfoliating on older branches. Leaves 2-4 per node; petiole appressed to ascending, tan to red, 0.4-0.7 mm; blade yellow-green, linear, 3-6 × 0.5-0.8 mm, base acute to rounded, apex obtuse, surfaces minutely glandular-hairy to glabrate, abaxial surface with prominent longitudinal groove. Inflorescences: bracts 1[-3] per flower, sessile, ovate, 1-1.5 mm; bracteoles absent. Flowers subsessile; sepals persistent, imbricate, reddish purple, ovate, 1.5-2.3 × 0.7-1.5 mm, margins erose; filaments 2-4 mm; anthers reddish purple, 1 mm; pistils reddish purple, 1.3-1.6 mm; ovary ovoid, 0.6-0.8 mm; style 1-2 mm; stigmas 0.5-1 mm. Drupes gray, 1-1.5 mm. 2n = 26.

Flowering Apr-Aug. Sandy and rocky siliceous soils, pine barrens, sand hills, rocky hilltops, coastal habitats; 0-700 m; N.S., P.E.I., Que.; Maine, Mass., N.J., N.Y.

Corema conradii occurs in small, disjunct populations along the Atlantic coastal plain and in the interior uplands of northeastern North America. Seeds are dispersed primarily by ants (P. W. Dunwoodie 1990), and postfire seedling emergence appears to be critical in the life history of the species (C. T. Martine et al. 2005). It is in the Center for Plant Conservation´s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

Much-branched, to 5 dm tall and 2 m wide; lvs linear, 3-6 mm; heads few fld, each fl subtended by 1 or more sepal-like bracts; filaments purple, 5 mm; anthers brown-purple; drupe 1.5 mm. Usually in sandy soil, mostly near the coast, but also in Ulster Co., N.Y.; Nf. to N.J. Apr.-May. Best developed northward.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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