Flora of New Zealand Series

sandwort

Annual. Stems erect to ascending, 2-15-(30) cm tall; hairs eglandular, very short, backwardly curved. Lvs distant, lanceolate to ovate, acute, (1)-3-5-veined, with scabrid hairs, (2)-3-5 × (1)-2-3 mm. Infl. compact at flowering, elongating at fruiting. Bracts leaflike, herbaceous. Sepals 5, ovate-acuminate, 2-4 mm long, with scabrid hairs, 3-5-veined; midvein prominent; margin scarious. Petals 5, 1/2-⅔ length of sepals, narrow-elliptic, white, entire. Styles 3. Capsule flask-shaped, swollen at base, dehiscing by 6 short teeth, = or slightly > sepals. Seeds dark brown, tuberculate, 0.5 mm long; strophiole 0.

N.: occasionally collected in Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay and central ranges, Wellington; S.: common in Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago.

Temperate Eurasia, N. Africa 1867

Depleted tussock land, riverbeds, roadsides, sometimes coastal sandy sites.

FL, FT (Sep)-Nov-Feb-(Apr).

Specimens of A. serpyllifolia have sometimes been referred to as A. leptoclados, A. serpyllifolia var. leptoclados, A. serpyllifolia var. sphaerocarpa, and Minuartia serpyllifolia in N.Z.