Paronychia virginica Spreng.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Caryophyllaceae

• Scientific Name

  Paronychia virginica Spreng.

• Description

  Species Description - Taprooted perennial with numerous glabrous or rough-puberulent, prostrate to erect stems 1–4 dm; lvs narrowly linear, 2–3 cm × 0.4–0.8 mm, mucronate; stipules entire, hyaline, lance-attenuate, often connate at base; fls numerous in repeatedly forking cymes, sessile, the alternate bracts foliar and provided with a pair of hyaline stipules; sep 3–4 mm; lance-linear, 3- nerved, the awn glabrous, thick, divergent, usually under 1 mm. Open or wooded places, crevices and ledges or rocky places, usually at low altitudes. July–Oct. Our plants, occurring in w. Md., W.Va., and w. Va., are usually low and matted, with numerous sterile shoots, the stems completely glabrous or sometimes minutely puberulent above; these are var. virginica. (P. dichotoma Nutt., non DC.) Another var. occurs in Okla. and Tex.

• Common Names

  Appalachian whitlow-wort