Arenaria L.
Annual to perennial herbs. Hairs glandular and/or eglandular or 0. Lvs opposite, exstipulate, linear-subulate to orbicular. Infl. cymose, few- to many-flowered; bracts and sepals herbaceous or with scarious margins; epicalyx 0. Sepals (4)-5, free. Petals (4)-5, white, rarely pink, entire; coronal scales 0. Stamens 10 or fewer. Styles (2)-3-(5). Fr. an ovoid to cylindric capsule, dehiscing by twice as many acute teeth as the styles, sessile. Seeds many, reniform, smooth or tuberculate, not winged.
160 spp., temperate to arctic N. Hemisphere. Naturalised sp. 1.
