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Paronychia macrosepala

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Caryophyllaceae

Herbs annual or perennial , rarely subshrubs or shrubs . Stems and branches usually swollen at nodes. Leaves opposite, decussate, rarely alternate or verticillate , simple , entire, usually connate at base ; stipules scarious , bristly , or often absent. Inflorescence of cymes or cymose panicles, rarely flowers solitary or few in racemes , capitula, pseudoverticillasters, or umbels. Flowers actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual , occasionally cleistogamous . Sepals (4 or) 5, free , imbricate, or connate into a tube , leaflike or scarious, persistent , sometimes bracteate below calyx. Petals (4 or) 5, rarely absent, free, often comprising claw and limb; limb entire or split, usually with coronal scales at juncture of claw and limb. Stamens (2--) 5--10, in 1 or 2 series. Pistil 1; carpels 2--5, united into a compound ovary. Ovary superior, 1-loculed or basally imperfectly 2--5-loculed. Gynophore present or absent. Placentation free, central, rarely basal; ovules (1 or) few or numerous , campylotropous. Styles (1 or) 2--5, sometimes united at base. Fruit usually a capsule, with pericarp crustaceous , scarious, or papery , dehiscing by teeth or valves 1 or 2 × as many as styles, rarely berrylike with irregular dehiscence or an achene. Seeds 1 to numerous, reniform , ovoid , or rarely dorsiventrally compressed , abaxially grooved , blunt , or sharply pointed , rarely fimbriate-pectinate; testa granular , striate or tuberculate , rarely smooth or spongy ; embryo strongly curved and surrounding perisperm or straight but eccentric ; perisperm mealy.

Between 75 and 80 genera and ca. 2000 species: widespread but mainly of temperate or warm-temperate occurrence in the N hemisphere, with principal centers of distribution in the Mediterranean region and W Asia to W China and the Himalayas, fewer species in Africa S of the Sahara, America, and Oceania; 30 genera (two endemic) and 390 species (193 endemic) in China.

Arenaria, Silene, and Stellaria contain over half the species in the family in China. They are mostly concentrated in the Qinghai-Xizang plateau , and are especially rich from the Hengduan Mountains to the Himalayas. The main uses of this family are medicinal and ornamental . Dianthus superbus, Pseudostellaria heterophylla, Stellaria dichotoma var. lanceolata, and Vaccaria hispanica are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine . Some species of Arenaria, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Psammosilene, and Silene are used as medicinal herbs among the people or are habitually used in local Chinese medicine. Many species of Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Saponaria, and Silene are grown as ornamentals. Atocion armeria (Linnaeus) Rafinesque ( Silene armeria Linnaeus), native to Russia and Europe, is also cultivated in China. It differs from Silene in having a corymbose inflorescence and obscure calyx veins. Wu Cheng-yih, Ke Ping, Zhou Li-hua, Tang Chang-lin & Lu De-quan. 1996. Caryophyllaceae. In: Tang Chang-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 26: 47–449.[1]

Genus Paronychia

Herbs, annual , biennial, or perennial , sometimes with woody base . Taproots filiform to stout. Stems prostrate , ascending , or erect , simple or branched, terete to angular. Leaves opposite, connate by stipules from adjacent leaves, petiolate (basal) or sessile (cauline) ; stipules 2 per node, often conspicuous , white or silvery, subulate to lanceolate or ovate , margins entire or fimbriate, apex subobtuse or acute to acuminate, unlobed or sometimes deeply 2-fid; blade 1-veined, linear to elliptic , oblanceolate , or spatulate , sometimes thickened and succulent, apex obtuse or acute to acuminate or spinose . Inflorescences terminal or sometimes axillary , frequently much-branched or congested cymes, or flowers solitary; bracts paired , dimorphic (resembling leaf blades and stipules), often concealing flowers. Pedicels erect in fruit. Flowers bisexual or rarely unisexual , some plants also having staminate unisexual flowers, others also having pistillate unisexual flowers, not woolly , with hairs ± straight or tips coiled , 0.1-0.3 mm; hypanthium cup-shaped, tapering or expanded distally; sepals (3-) 5, connate proximally, white or yellowish to green or reddish or purplish brown, subulate to linear-oblong, lanceolate, spatulate, or ovate, 0.4-4.5 mm, margins translucent to white, scarious or papery , apex defined by a usually prominent adaxial hood , ascending to slightly descending , rounded to triangular, sometimes absent (P. americana, P. erecta), apex obtuse or rounded, usually with terminal or subterminal cusp , crest , mucro , or prominent awn (often thickened-conic proximally, spinose distally) ; nectar secreted from within hypanthium; stamens usually 5; filaments distinct or connate proximally with alternating staminodes; staminodes absent or 5, arising from hypanthium rim, subulate to narrowly triangular, filiform, or oblong ; styles 1-2(-3), distinct or often connate proximally 10- 10 of length , subcapitate to filiform, 0.07-3.2 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas 2(-3), subterminal or linear along adaxial surface of style branches, obscurely papillate (50×). Utricles ovoid to globose or rarely 4-angular, membranous, indehiscent. Seeds brown, subglobose to ellipsoid , laterally compressed , smooth , marginal wing absent, appendage absent; embryo peripheral, curved . x = 7, 8, 9.

Species ca. 110: warm-temperate North America, South America, Eurasia , Africa.[2]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Boiss. Publication : Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 1, 3: 11 1843 [Nov 1843]

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Paronychia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 55 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

P. ahartii (Ahart's Nailwort) · P. americana (American Nailwort) · P. americana americana (American Nailwort) · P. americana pauciflora (American Nailwort) · P. americana subsp. pauciflora (American Nailwort) · P. argyrocoma (Silverling) · P. baldwinii (Baldwin's Nailwort) · P. baldwinii baldwinii (Baldwin's Nailwort) · P. baldwinii riparia (Baldwin's Nailwort) · P. baldwinii subsp. riparia (Baldwin's Nailwort) · P. canadensis (Forked Nail-Wort) · P. chartacea (Paper Nailwort) · P. chartacea chartacea (Paper Nailwort) · P. chartacea minima (Paper Nailwort) · P. chartacea subsp. minima (Paper Nailwort) · P. congesta (Bushy Whitlow-Wort) · P. depressa (Rocky Mountain Nail-Wort) · P. depressa var. depressa (Spreading Nailwort) · P. drummondii (Drummond Nailwort) · P. drummondii drummondii (Drummond's Nailwort) · P. drummondii var. drummondii (Drummond´s Nailwort) · P. echinulata (Eurasian Nailwort) · P. echinulata rouyana (Eurasian Nailwort) · P. erecta (Beach Sand-Squares) · P. erecta var. corymbosa (Squareflower) · P. erecta var. erecta (Squareflower) · P. fastigiata (Cluster-Stemmed Nail-Wort) · P. fastigiata var. fastigiata (Hairy Forked Nailwort) · P. fastigiata var. nuttallii (Hairy Forked Nailwort) · P. fastigiata var. paleacea (Chaffy Whitlow Wort) · P. franciscana (California Nail-Wort) · P. herniarioides (Coastal-Plain Nailwort) · P. jamesii (James Nailwort) · P. jonesii (Jones Nailwort) · P. lanuginosa (Woolly Cottonflower) · P. lindheimeri (Forked Nailwort) · P. lindheimeri var. lindheimeri (Chalk Nail-Wort) · P. lindheimeri var. longibracteata (Forked Nailwort) · P. lundelliorum (Lundell's Nailwort) · P. maccartii (Mccart's Nailwort) · P. montana (Mountain Nailwort) · P. monticola (Livermore Nailwort) · P. patula (Pineland Nailwort) · P. pauciflora (American Nailwort) · P. pulvinata (Rocky Mountain Nailwort) · P. pulvinata var. pulvinata (Rocky Mountain Nailwort) · P. rugelii (Rugel Nailwort) · P. rugelii var. interior (Rugel Nailwort) · P. rugelii var. rugelii (Rugel's Nailwort) · P. sessiliflora (Creeping Mailwort) · P. setacea (Bristle Nailwort) · P. setacea var. longibracteata (Bristle Nailwort) · P. setacea var. setacea (Bristle Nailwort) · P. virginica (Virginia Nailwort) · P. wilkinsonii (Wilkinson's Nail-Wort)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 28, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Dequan Lu, Zhengyi Wu, Lihua Zhou, Shilong Chen, Michael G. Gilbert, Magnus Lidén, John McNeill, John K. Morton, Bengt Oxelman, Richard K. Rabeler, Mats Thulin, Nicholas J. Turland & Warren L. Wagner "Caryophyllaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 6 Page 1. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Ronald L. Hartman, John W. Thieret, Richard K. Rabeler "Paronychia". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/22/2012