James' nailwort

Paronychia jamesii var. hirsuta Chaudhri, P. jamesii var. parviflora Chaudhri; P. jamesii var. praelongifolia Correll

Plants perennial; caudex branched, woody. Stems erect to ascending, much-branched, 10-35 cm, scabrous, puberulent to pubescent, sometimes glabrous with age. Leaves: stipules lanceolate, 5-15 mm, apex acuminate, entire; blade linear, 7-25(-34) × 0.5-1 mm, leathery, apex obtuse to subacute or submucronate, pubescent to puberulent. Cymes terminal, 20-70-flowered, open, clusters 1-2 cm wide. Flowers 5-merous, short-campanulate, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx widening somewhat distally, 1.8-2.8 mm, puberulent, glabrous to hirtellous distally; sepals green to red-brown, veins absent, oblong, 1.3-1.8 mm, leathery to rigid, margins whitish to translucent, 0.05-0.1 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by awn, broadly rounded, awn widely divergent, 0.4-0.8 mm, conic in proximal 2- 3 with yellowish, scabrous spine; staminodes filiform, 0.6-1 mm; style 1, cleft in distal 1/ 1/ 6, 0.8-1.2 mm. Utricles ellipsoid-ovoid, 0.8-1 mm, smooth, glabrous.

Flowering summer-fall. Limestone rocky ledges, slopes, hilltops, grasslands; 500-2500 m; Colo., Kans., Nebr., N.Mex., Okla., Tex., Wyo.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila).

We agree with B. L. Turner (1983b) in not adopting the four varieties of Paronychia jamesii that Chaudhri recognized.