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Sagina procumbens

(Procumbent Pearlwort)

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Bird-Eye Pearlwort, Birdeye Pearlwort, Birdseye Pearlwort, Matted Pearlwort, Pearlwort, Procumbent Pearlwort, Spreading Pearlwort

Common Names in French:

Sagine Couchée

Common Names in Romanian:

Grasatoare

Common Names in Swedish:

Krypnarv

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 Sagina

Herbs, annual , winter-annual, or perennial , often cespitose or matted . Taproots slender. Stems ascending , decumbent , or procumbent , simple or branched, terete to slightly angular. Leaves: basal and secondary rosettes present in perennial species, usually connate proximally, sometimes forming conspicuous , scarious cup , sessile, with or without axillary fascicles of leaves; blade 1-veined, linear to subulate , succulent or not, apex acute to mucronate or apiculate (or long-aristate in S. subulata). Inflorescences terminal or axillary cymes, or flowers solitary; bracts paired , foliaceous . Pedicels erect or spreading . Flowers: perianth and androecium hypogynous; sepals 4 or 5, distinct , green or sometimes purple (in S. nivalis and S. decumbens), lanceolate to elliptic or orbiculate, 1-5.5 mm, herbaceous, margins white or purple, scarious, apex obtuse or rounded to somewhat acute, frequently hood-shaped in bud; petals 4 or 5, sometimes absent (frequently absent or soon dropping in annual species ), white, claw absent or minute, blade apex entire; nectaries at base of filaments opposite sepals; stamens 4, 5, 8, or 10, arising from base of ovary; filaments distinct; staminodes absent; styles 4 or 5, clavate to filiform , 0.5-1.5 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas 4 or 5, subterminal to linear along adaxial surface of styles, minutely papillate (30×). Capsules globose to ovoid , opening by 4 or 5 valves , sutures running to base, but in some species dehiscing only ca. 1/ 1/ 2 capsule length ; carpophore absent. Seeds ca. 125, light tan to dark or reddish brown, obliquely triangular with abaxial groove , or reniform to nearly globose without abaxial groove (except S. nodosa, which is intermediate), laterally compressed or plump, smooth to tuberculate , marginal wing absent, appendage absent. x = 6, 7, 11.

Species 15-20: chiefly cold-temperate Northern Hemisphere, also on some tropical mountains.[2]

Physical Description

Species Sagina procumbens

Plants perennial , often mat-forming, glabrous . Stems as-cending or, more frequently, procumbent , rooting at nodes, giving rise to secondary tufts or rosettes, few- to many-branched, slender. Leaves: axillary fascicles often present on procumbent stems; basal frequently in primary rosettes in younger plants ; blade linear , 8-17 mm, herbaceous, apex apiculate to somewhat aristate , glabrous; cauline not conspicuously connate basally, never forming an inflated cup , blade linear, 4-15 mm proximally, becoming shorter toward apex, 2.5-6 mm distally, sometimes slightly fleshy , apex apiculate to aristate, rarely with minute glandular cilia. Pedicels frequently recurved during capsule development, filiform , glabrous. Flowers axillary or terminal , 4-merous, occasionally 4- and 5-merous; calyx base glabrous; sepals elliptic to orbiculate, 1.5-(-2.5) mm, hyaline margins white, never purple tinged, apex obtuse to rounded , appressed during capsular development, divergent following dehiscence; petals (1-) 4(-5), orbiculate to elliptic, 0.8-1(-1.5) mm, shorter than or equaling sepals, or sometimes absent; stamens 4 (8). Capsules (1.5-) 2-2.5(-3) mm, slightly exceeding sepals, dehiscing to base. Seeds brown, obliquely triangular with distinct abaxial groove , (0.3-) 0.4(-0.5) mm, smooth to pebbled. 2n = 22. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October. • Flower Color: green, near white, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: under 6" tall.

Habitat

Weedy, wet or damp, gravelly or sandy soils along roadsides, sidewalk cracks, margins of paths or lawns, pond and lake margins, coastal rocks and sands, sea cliffs ; 0-3500 m [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,840 meters (0 to 6,037 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun .

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Alsine procumbens (L.) Crantz
  2. Sagina procumbens var. compacta Lange

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Sp. pl. 1:128. 1753

Name verified on 14-Mar-1997 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 14-Mar-1997

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Sagina

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 142 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

S. abyssinica · S. abyssinica aequinoctialis · S. acicularis · S. affinis · S. afroalpina · S. alpina · S. ambigua · S. anomala · S. apelata · S. apetala (Annual Pearlwort) · S. apetala apetala (Annual Pearlwort) · S. apetala barbata · S. apetala erecta · S. apetala filicaulis · S. apetala subsp. apetala · S. apetala subsp. ciliata · S. apetala var. brevipedicellata · S. apetala var. chilensis · S. apetala var. pachyrrhiza · S. apetala var. paludosa · S. arctica · S. belonophylla · S. boydii · S. brachysepala · S. brevipedicellata · S. bryoides · S. caespitosa (Tufted Pearlwort) · S. carnosula · S. cerastioides · S. cespitosa · S. chilensis · S. ciliata · S. corsica · S. crassicaulis · S. crassifolia · S. debilis · S. decandra · S. decumbens (Trailing Pearlwort) · S. decumbens occidentalis (Western Pearlwort) · S. decumbens smithii · S. decumbens subsp. occidentalis (Western Pearlwort) · S. densa · S. depressa · S. dichotoma · S. diemensis · S. donatioides · S. echinosperma · S. elliottii · S. erecta · S. fasciculata · S. filicaulis · S. filiformis · S. fontinalis · S. glabra · S. glandulosa · S. graminifolia · S. haenkeana · S. hawaiensis · S. hochstetteri · S. humifusa · S. intermedia · S. japonica (Japanese Pearlwort) · S. karakorensis · S. lamyi · S. laxa · S. lemovicensis · S. libanotica · S. linnaei · S. linnei · S. litoralis · S. littoralis maxima · S. loscosii · S. macrocarpa · S. magellanica · S. mariana · S. maritima (Sea Pearlwort) · S. maxima (Stickystem Pearlwort) · S. maxima subsp. crassicaulis (Stickystem Pearlwort) · S. melitensis · S. merinoi · S. micrantha · S. micropetala · S. micropetala var. glanduloso-ciliata · S. monticola · S. muscoides · S. muscosa · S. namadgi · S. nevadensis · S. nivalis (Snow Pearlwort) · S. nodosa (Knotted Pearlwort) · S. nodosa borealis (Knotted Pearlwort) · S. nodosa subsp. borealis (Knotted Pearlwort) · S. nodosa var. kuzenevae · S. normaniana · S. occidentalis · S. octandra · S. olympica · S. oxysepala · S. pachyrrhiza · S. papuana

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 18, 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. Garrett E. Crow "Sagina". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Sagina procumbens". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 181.800 meters (596.457 feet), Standard Deviation = 239.410 based on 12,008 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009