View source for Moehringia

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Moehringia
|accepted_authority=Linnaeus
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Sp. Pl.
|place=1: 359. 1753
|year=1753
}}{{Treatment/Publication
|title=Gen. Pl. ed.
|place=5, 170. 1754
|year=1754
}}
|common_names=Sandwort;moehringie;sabline
|basionyms=
|synonyms=
|hierarchy=Caryophyllaceae;Caryophyllaceae subfam. Alsinoideae;Moehringia
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Caryophyllaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>subfamily</small>[[Caryophyllaceae subfam. Alsinoideae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Moehringia]]</div></div>
|etymology=for P. H. G. Moehring, 1710–1791, Danzig naturalist
|volume=Volume 5
|mention_page=page 3, 8, 57, 71
|treatment_page=page 70
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Herbs,</b> annual or perennial. <b>Taproots</b> slender, rhizomes slender or absent. <b>Stems</b> prostrate or ascending to erect, simple or branched, terete or angled. <b>Leaves</b> not connate, petiolate or sessile, not congested at or near base of flowering stem; blade 1–3(–7)-veined, lanceolate to elliptic or ovate to broadly ovate, not succulent, apex acute or obtuse. <b>Inflorescences</b> terminal or axillary, open cymes, or flowers solitary; bracts paired and foliaceous, or smaller and mostly scarious. <b>Pedicels</b> erect or recurved in fruit. <b>Flowers</b>: perianth and androecium weakly perigynous; hypanthium minute, disc-shaped; sepals (4–)5, distinct, green, ovate to obovate, 1.7–6 mm, herbaceous, margins white, scarious, apex obtuse or acute to acuminate, not hooded; petals (4–)5, white, not clawed, blade apex entire; nectaries as fleshy lobes at base of filaments opposite sepals, ca. 3 times width of filament, connate proximally into basal disc; stamens 10, occasionally 8, arising from nectariferous disc; filaments distinct; staminodes absent; styles 3, filiform, 1.5–1.8 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas 3, linear along adaxial surface of styles, minutely papillate (30×). <b>Capsules</b> broadly ovoid to subglobose, opening by 6 revolute teeth; carpophore absent. <b>Seeds</b> 2–6, reddish brown to blackish, ellipsoid to reniform, laterally compressed, shiny, smooth to minutely tuberculate, marginal wing absent, appendage white, ± elliptic, spongy. <b>x</b> = 12.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=North-temperate North America;Europe;Asia.
|discussion=<p>Species 25 (3 in the flora).</p><!--
--><p>Members of <i>Moehringia</i> and Petrocoptis (a segregate from <i>Silene</i>, comprising four species in the Pyrenees) are the only <i>Caryophyllaceae</i> with strophioles (eliasomes), spongy seed appendages that attract ants. Foraging ants gather the seeds, eat only the strophiole, and “plant” the seeds in their nests.</p><!--
--><p>We follow J. McNeill (1962) and V. Bittrich (1993) among others in recognizing <i>Moehringia</i>. The appendaged (strophiolate) seed and a chromosome base number of 12 are the chief characters distinguishing <i>Moehringia</i> from <i>Arenaria</i>. Although McNeill noted that this distinction is similar to features used to distinguish subgenera within <i>Arenaria</i>, he retained <i>Moehringia</i> and suggested that, among other evidence, cytological investigation of the North American species of <i>Moehringia</i> and members of <i>Arenaria</i> subg. Leiosperma McNeill (New World, especially Andean South America) would help support such action. Chromosome counts made since 1962 do show x = 12 in North American <i>Moehringia</i> and x = (10) 11 for <i>Arenaria</i> subg. Leiosperma.</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

--><div class="treatment-key">
==Key==
<div class="treatment-key-group">
  
{| class="wikitable fna-keytable"
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Plants annual (or short-lived perennial?); stems prostrate or ascending, pubsecence in 2 lines; leaves petiolate, petioles 1-4 mm, blade ovate to broadly ovate
|[[Moehringia trinervia|Moehringia trinervia]]
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Plants perennial, with extensive rhizome systems; stems prostrate or ascending to erect, pubescence ± uniform; leaves sessile or subsessile, petioles 0.1-1 mm, blade mostly lanceolate to elliptic
|[[#key-0-2| > 2]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Stem pubsecence retrorse; sepals (herbaceous portion) oblong to elliptic, apex mostly rounded or obtuse, 1.7-2.8(-3) mm; petals ca. 2 times as long as sepals
|[[Moehringia lateriflora|Moehringia lateriflora]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Stem pubescence peglike, spreading; sepals (herbaceous portion) lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate, (2.8-)3-6 mm; petals 4-1 2 times as long as sepals
|[[Moehringia macrophylla|Moehringia macrophylla]]
|}
</div></div><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Moehringia
|author=Richard K. Rabeler;Ronald L. Hartman
|authority=Linnaeus
|rank=genus
|parent rank=subfamily
|synonyms=
|basionyms=
|family=Caryophyllaceae
|illustrator=Barbara Alongi
|distribution=North-temperate North America;Europe;Asia.
|reference=None
|publication title=Sp. Pl.;Gen. Pl. ed.
|publication year=1753;1754
|special status=
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/8f726806613d60c220dc4493de13607dd3150896/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V5/V5_150.xml
|subfamily=Caryophyllaceae subfam. Alsinoideae
|genus=Moehringia
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Caryophyllaceae subfam. Alsinoideae]]