Minuartia biflora

(Linnaeus) Schinz & Thellung

Bull. Herb. Boissier, sér. 2, 7: 404. 1907.

Common names: Mountain stitchwort or sandwort minuartie à deux fleurs
Basionym: Stellaria biflora Linnaeus Sp. Pl. 1: 422. 1753
Synonyms: Alsinopsis biflora (Linnaeus) Rydberg Lidia biflora (Linnaeus) Á. Löve & D. Löve
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 5. Treatment on page 121. Mentioned on page 116, 118, 131.

Plants perennial, mat-forming. Taproots stout, woody. Stems suberect to ascending, green, 2–10-cm, retrorsely pubescent in lines, internodes of flowering stems 2–7 times as long as leaves. Leaves tightly overlapping or not (vegetative and proximal cauline) or variably spaced (distal cauline), usually connate proximally, with tight, scarious to herbaceous sheath 0.5–1 mm; blade straight to outwardly curved, green, flat, obscurely 1-veined abaxially, oblong or spatulate to elliptic, 5–10 × 0.7–2 mm, flexuous, margins not thickened, scarious, rarely ciliate proximally, apex green or purple, rounded, flat to navicular, shiny, glabrous; axillary leaves mostly absent. Inflorescences 3–5-flowered, open cymes; bracts lanceolate, herbaceous. Pedicels 0.5–1 cm, usually densely stipitate-glandular. Flowers: hypanthium cup-shaped; sepals 3-veined prominently in fruit, oblong to narrowly lanceolate (herbaceous portion often purple, oblong to narrowly oblanceolate), 3.5–4.5 mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex rarely purple, rounded, hooded (at least inner sepals) or not, glabrous to stipitate-glandular proximally; petals white or often lilac, broadly oblanceolate, 1.4–1.7 times as long as sepals, apex truncate, often shallowly notched. Capsules broadly ellipsoid, 5.5 mm, longer than sepals. Seeds brown, suborbiculate with radicle prolonged into beak, slightly compressed, 0.7–0.8 mm, smooth or obscurely scupltured (50×). 2n = 26.


Phenology: Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat: Dry, calcareous, gravelly to rocky slopes, fell-fields, snow beds, heath in low arctic to alpine areas
Elevation: 0-2500 m

Distribution

V5 245-distribution-map.gif

Greenland, Alta., B.C., Nfld. and Labr. (Labr.), N.W.T., Nunavut, Que., Yukon, Alaska, circumpolar, Europe, Asia.

Discussion

Specimens labeled Arenaria sajanensis Willdenow ex Schlechtendal from western North America, although sometimes referred to M. biflora (e.g., H. J. Scoggan 1978–1979, part 3), are likely to be M. obtusiloba.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Minuartia biflora"
Richard K. Rabeler +, Ronald L. Hartman +  and Frederick H. Utech +
(Linnaeus) Schinz & Thellung +
Stellaria biflora +
Mountain stitchwort or sandwort +  and minuartie à deux fleurs +
Greenland +, Alta. +, B.C. +, Nfld. and Labr. (Labr.) +, N.W.T. +, Nunavut +, Que. +, Yukon +, Alaska +, circumpolar +, Europe +  and Asia. +
0-2500 m +
Dry, calcareous, gravelly to rocky slopes, fell-fields, snow beds, heath in low arctic to alpine areas +
Flowering spring–summer. +
Bull. Herb. Boissier, sér. +
Alsinopsis biflora +  and Lidia biflora +
Minuartia biflora +
Minuartia +
species +