Spergularia canadensis
Gen. Hist. 1: 426. 1831.
Plants annual, delicate to stout, 3–25 cm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular throughout or only in inflorescence. Taproots slender. Stems prostrate or decumbent to erect, usually branched proximally; main stem usually 0.4–1.8 mm diam. proximally. Leaves: stipules inconspicuous, dull white, broadly triangular, 1–2.8 mm, apex obtuse to acute; blade linear, 1.5–4.5 cm, fleshy, apex ± blunt; axillary leaf clusters mostly absent. Cymes simple to 2+-compound or flowers solitary and axillary. Pedicels reflexed in fruit. Flowers: sepals connate 0.5–0.6 mm proximally, lobes weakly 1-veined, ovate to elliptic-oblong, 2.2–3.5 mm, to 4.3–4.5 mm in fruit, margins 0.2–0.5 mm wide, apex ± acute to rounded; petals white or pink, narrowly ovate, 0.9–1 times as long as sepals; stamens 2–4; styles 0.3–0.7 mm. Capsules greenish, 3.5–5.3 mm, 1.2–2 times as long as sepals. Seeds reddish brown, submarginal groove absent, broadly ovate, compressed, 0.9–1.4 mm, shiny, ± smooth, papillate; wing absent or often present, whitish, 0.2–0.3 mm wide, margins irregular.
Distribution
Coastal North America.
Discussion
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Selected References
None.
Key
| 1 | Capsules 1.5-2 times as long as sepals; sepals 2.2-3.2 mm, to 4.5 mm in fruit, apex broadly rounded; stems prostrate or decumbent; plants glabrous except pedicels rarely stipitate-glandular | Spergularia canadensis var. canadensis |
| 1 | Capsules 1.2-1.3 times as long as sepals; sepals 2.5-3.5 mm, to 4.3 mm in fruit, apex ± acute to narrowly obtuse; stems widely spreading to erect; plants glabrous or stipitate-glandular | Spergularia canadensis var. occidentalis |