BERBERIDACEAE -- Barberry Family - New Mexico Flores

Scientific Name:
Arenaria fendleri
Size:
10 - 30 cm
CARYOPHYLLACEAE -- Pink Family
Description:
Synonym: Eremogone fendleri
Erect to ascending perennial herb, stems
clumped, with gland-tipped hairs above. Basal
leaves 4 - 10 cm long, grass-like, pointed,
pungent. Stem leaves opposite, 3 - 5 pairs,
grass-like, reduced above. Flowers on stalks 10
- 15 mm long in open clusters of 2 to several at
stem ends. Sepals 5, mostly distinct, lanceolate
to linear-lanceolate, 4 - 6 mm long, with papery
margins. Petals 5, oblong, 5 - 8 mm long,
sometimes notched at the tip. Stamens 10.
Pistil 1, styles 3. Fruit a capsule, 6-toothed,
ellipsoid.
184
Common Name:
Fendler’s sandwort
Color:
White
Notes:
Fendler’s sandwort is distinctive with its sharppointed
grass-like leaves and its white flowers
with 5 petals and 10 stamens. This species is
actually a group of at least 7 varieties. New
Mexico has 3 of them. The suffix “wort” often
engenders feelings that the plant is somehow
ugly or unpleasant, but it is only an ancient
word meaning “plant”. Fendler’s sandwort
blooms from July into September between 7000
and 10000 ft.
New Mexico Native