Minuartia nuttallii
Encyclopedia
Minuartia nuttallii is a species of flowering plant in the pink family
known by the common names Nuttall's sandwort and brittle sandwort. It is native to western North America from southwestern Canada to California
and Nevada
, where it grows in several types of habitat, including rocky and barren ridges, chaparral
and woodlands, often on serpentine soil
s. It is a rhizomatous
perennial herb forming low mats of glandular, hairy herbage. The thin, rigid, sometimes needlelike leaves may be just over a centimeter long but are barely a millimeter wide. The small flowers have five white petals usually under a centimeter long and ribbed, pointed sepal
s.
Caryophyllaceae
The Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactaceae and Polygonaceae...
known by the common names Nuttall's sandwort and brittle sandwort. It is native to western North America from southwestern Canada to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, where it grows in several types of habitat, including rocky and barren ridges, chaparral
Chaparral
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...
and woodlands, often on serpentine soil
Serpentine soil
A serpentine soil is derived from ultramafic rocks, in particular serpentinite, a rock formed by the hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle....
s. It is a rhizomatous
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
perennial herb forming low mats of glandular, hairy herbage. The thin, rigid, sometimes needlelike leaves may be just over a centimeter long but are barely a millimeter wide. The small flowers have five white petals usually under a centimeter long and ribbed, pointed sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s.