Kingdom Plantae Family Caryophyllaceae Scientific name Minuartia decumbens | Order Caryophyllales Genus Minuartia Rank Species | |
Similar Minuartia douglasii, Minuartia uniflora, Minuartia nuttallii, Minuartia patula, Minuartia groenlandica | ||
Minuartia decumbens is a rare species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names The Lassics sandwort and Lassicus stitchwort.
Contents
The species was described in 1981 from the type specimen observed on Mule Ridge in a string of peaks known as The Lassics.
Distribution
It is endemic to California, where it is known from only a single occurrence in the isolated inland mountains of the North Coast Ranges in Trinity County near the Humboldt County line. It grows in the serpentine soils of the mountain forests among Jeffrey Pines.
Description
Minuartia decumbens is a low, mat-forming perennial herb growing a in a clump a few centimeters high from a thin, woody taproot. The narrow, rigid, sometimes needle-like leaves are under a centimeter long and no more than 2 millimeters wide.
The tiny flowers have purple-tipped sepals a few millimeters long and five white petals which are slightly smaller.