Franklin's sandwort

Arenaria franklinii Douglas ex Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 101, plate 35. 1831

Plants ± cespitose, bluish green, not glaucous, with woody base. Stems erect, 3-10(-15) cm, glabrous. Leaves: basal leaves persistent; cauline leaves in 6-10 pairs, closely overlapping, not reduced; basal blades arcuate-spreading, needlelike, (0.6-)1-2 cm × ca. 1 mm, ± rigid, herbaceous, apex spinose, glabrous, not glaucous. Inflorescences 3-45+-flowered, usually congested, subcapitate cymes. Pedicels ca. 0.1-3(-4) mm, glabrous. Flowers: sepals 1-3-veined, linear-lanceolate, (5-)8.5-12 mm, not enlarging in fruit, margins narrow, apex acuminate, glabrous; petals white, oblong-lanceolate to narrowly spatulate, 7-9 mm, 0.8-1.1 times as long as sepals, apex rounded to blunt; nectaries not apparent. Capsules 2.3-3.3 mm, glabrous. Seeds black, pyriform, 1.2-1.7 mm, tuberculate.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): w United States.