Minuartia stricta
Encyclopedia
Minuartia stricta is a species of flowering plant in the pink family
known by the common names bog stitchwort and rock sandwort. It has a circumboreal distribution
, occurring throughout much of the northernmost Northern Hemisphere from the lower Arctic
into the alpine climate
s of mountainous areas in temperate Eurasia and North America. It grows in several types of habitat, including meadows, marsh
es, heath
, beaches and bars, and arctic
and alpine tundra
.
This is a small, mat-forming perennial herb just a few centimeters high. The green or purplish, hairless, needlelike leaves are no more than a centimeter long and barely over a millimeter wide. The thin, flowering stems are sometimes erect, bearing tiny flowers with pointed sepal
s just a few millimeters long. The flowers often lack petals, or may have rudimentary petals no longer than the sepals.
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 bog stitchwort and rock sandwort. It has a circumboreal distribution
Circumboreal Region
The Circumboreal Region is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan....
, occurring throughout much of the northernmost Northern Hemisphere from the lower Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
into the alpine climate
Alpine climate
Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....
s of mountainous areas in temperate Eurasia and North America. It grows in several types of habitat, including meadows, marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es, heath
Heath
-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...
, beaches and bars, and arctic
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
and alpine tundra
Alpine tundra
Alpine tundra is a natural region that does not contain trees because it is at high altitude. Alpine tundra is distinguished from arctic tundra, because alpine soils are generally better drained than arctic soils...
.
This is a small, mat-forming perennial herb just a few centimeters high. The green or purplish, hairless, needlelike leaves are no more than a centimeter long and barely over a millimeter wide. The thin, flowering stems are sometimes erect, bearing tiny flowers with 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 just a few millimeters long. The flowers often lack petals, or may have rudimentary petals no longer than the sepals.