Arenaria groenlandica

Delicate, glabrous annual (perennial?); lvs linear or linear- oblanceolate, 5-20 mm, obtuse, rather soft and fleshy; fls few to many, the infl sometimes extending to below the middle; pedicels 5-25 mm; sep 3-3.5 mm, oblong to oblong-ovate, obtuse or acutish, faintly 1-nerved; pet 5-10 mm, conspicuously exceeding the sep; fr broadly conic, the 3 valves separating to the base, obtuse, slightly notched; seed 0.7-0.8 mm, minutely tuberculate, reddish-brown. 2n=20. (Minuartia g.) Var. groenlandica, is a mat-forming plant 5-10(-15) cm, the cymes 3-7-fld, the sep 4-5.5 mm, the pet 6-10 mm, occurring in rocky places from Greenland to N.S. and e. Que. and s. in the higher mts. to Me., N.H., Vt., and N.Y., and In N.C. (Sabulina g.) Var. glabra (Michx.) Fernald is 1-2 dm, seldom matted, with simple or forking stems, the cymes mostly 9-15-fld, the sep 3-4 mm, the pet 4-6(-8) mm, occurring in the foothills and lower mts. from Me. and N.H. to S.C. and Tenn. (Minuartia g.; Sabulina g.) The closely related A. cumberlandensis Wofford & Kral, from rock-houses in n. Tenn., may be expected in our range in Ky. It differs from A. groenlandica var. glabra in its slightly wider and softer, more veiny leaves and in having only 1-3 flowers per stem.

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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