Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Rocky Mountain Nailwort
Paronychia pulvinata
Pink family (Caryophyllaceae)

Nailwort is a tiny plant that spreads in very low dense mats. The minute flowers are at ground level buried in the mat of leaves. "Paronychia," the Greek name given to this plant by Miller in 1754, means "whitlow," a disease of the nails which this plant was thought to cure. "Pulvinate" is Latin for "cushion" and is commonly used to describe very densely matted plants hugging the ground.


©2014 Rich Hoyer

Description

tufted plants with woody (woody base of an otherwise plant) (woody base of an otherwise plant) that give rise to dense cushion-like mats with stems to about 2". Leaves 1/8 to 1/4" long, or , , bright green, flat but thick, very crowded. as long and as crowded and numerous as the leaves so that the short stems are hardly visible. Flowers mostly solitary and immersed in the leaves. exceeding the flowers and about as long as the leaves. Petals minute or lacking. a .

Field Marks

Very dense matted plant with tiny yellow flowers imbedded in the minute leaves.

© Al Schneider

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

stipule -- A leaf-like structure that occurs where the leaf joins the stem; stipules often occur in pairs.

elliptic -- Oval, with no point or a very short point.

obtuse -- Rounded and blunt. An angle greater than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees.

caudex -- The woody stem base of some herbaceous perennials.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.