This section is from the book "An Illustrated Flora Of The Northern United States, Canada And The British Possessions Vol2", by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown. Also available from Amazon: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 Volume Set..
Fig. 1787
Arenaria litorea Fernald, Rhodora 8: 33. 1906.
Perennial, similar to the preceding species, tufted, glabrous, slender, 8' high or less, leafy below. Leaves linear-subulate, somewhat 3-angled, fascicled at the nodes, about 5" long; cymes i-several-flowered; pedicels slender, 5"-12" long, ascending; sepals \\"-2\" long, ovate, acuminate, scarious-margined; petals oblong, shorter than the sepals or nearly equalling them; capsule ovoid, somewhat longer than the calyx.
Sandy and gravelly shores, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. June-July.
Fig. 1788
Arenaria stricta texana Robinson; Britton, Mem. Torr.
Club 5: 152. 1894. Arenaria texana Britton in Britt. & Brown, 1ll. Fl. 2:
34. 1897.
Similar to the preceding species but lower, stiffer, pale green, stems erect, 4'-7' tall, simple up to the inflorescence, conspicuously thickened at the nodes, the internodes mostly very short. Leaves subulate, stiff, 3"-6" long, strongly connate, with numerous minute or similar ones fascicled in their axils; cymes small, rather few-flowered, compact or rather loose; pedicels rarely more than 8" long; flowers 4"-5" broad; calyx narrowly conic in fruit; sepals narrowly lanceolate, strongly 3-ribbed, long-acuminate, 2" long, longer than the capsule.
In dry, rocky soil, Missouri and Kansas to Texas. June-July.
Fig. 1789
Arenaria patula Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 273. 1803. Arenaria Pitcheri Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1: 180. 1838.
Annual, branched from the base, slender or even filiform, erect or ascending, 4'-10' high, finely pubescent or glabrous. Leaves soft, herbaceous, linear-filiform, 4"-12" long, 1/2" wide or less, obtuse or acutish; cyme terminal, several-flowered, diffuse; pedicels slender; sepals lanceolate, acuminate, 3-5-nerved, about half the length of the emargi-nate petals and equalling the pod; seeds rough.
In open, dry places, Kentucky to Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas,' Alabama, Tennessee and Texas. April-May.
Fig. 1790
Stellaria groenlandica Retz, Fl, Scand. Ed. 2, 107. 1795. Arenaria groenlandica Spreng. Syst. 2: 402. 1825.
Perennial from a slender rootstock, densely tufted, glabrous, flowering stems slender, 2'-$' high; leaves linear-filiform, the upper distant, the lower matted, 3"-6" long; cyme terminal, several-flowered; pedicels 2"-6" long, filiform; flowers 4"-6" broad; sepals oblong, obtuse, scarious-margined, nerveless; half the length of the entire or refuse petals and shorter than the oblong pod; seeds compressed, smooth.
On dry rocks, Labrador and Greenland to northern New York Connecticut, the mountains of southern New York and Pennsylvania, and on the higher Alleghanies of Virginia and North Carolina. Flowers rarely apetalous. June-Sept.
 
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