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
B.C., N.B., N.S., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), Nunavut, Ont., P.E.I., Que., Alaska, Calif., Conn., Maine, Mass., N.H., N.Y., Oreg., R.I., Wash., 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 |