Adenonema petraeum (Bunge) Bunge var. alpinum Bunge; Stellaria cherleriae (Fischer ex Seringe) F. N. Williams var. alpina (Bunge) Schischkin; S. petraea var. alpina (Bunge) Turczaninow; S. petraea var. imbricata Fenzl.

Herbs perennial, cushionlike. Stems densely tufted, ascending or erect, 2--7 cm tall, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves lanceolate-linear, 4--10 × ca. 1.5 mm, margin nearly imbricate, thick, apex acute, hard, sometimes sickle-shaped; axillary leaves clustered. Flowers 1--3(--12), in terminal cymose umbel, rarely solitary. Sepals lanceolate, 4--5 × 1--1.3 mm, glabrous, apex acuminate. Petals 1/3--2/3 as long as sepals, 2-cleft nearly to base; lobes linear. Capsule subglobose, shorter than persistent petals, base narrowed. Seeds 1 or 2. Fl. Jul--Aug.

Steppe hills to montane stony slopes. Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].