Arenaria lanuginosa var. saxosa

Rock sandwort, spreading sandwort, Spreading Sandwort, rock sandwort, rock sandwort

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Rock sandwort is a rare (CNPS 2B.3) California native perennial found in the San Bernardino Mountains and Peninsular Ranges in moist, sandy soil along streams at elevations of 1,800 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from spring to summer, this plant produces white flowers with delicate petals 1.5 to 3.5 millimeters long. Growing with trailing or tufted green stems 10 to 40 centimeters long, it features minute down-curved hairs arranged in lines along the rounded stems. Its leaves are narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, 8 to 22 millimeters long and 2 to 6 millimeters wide, with a single prominent vein. The plant produces small dark brown seeds that are approximately 0.7 to 0.8 millimeters round and slightly compressed.

Habitat: Moist, sandy soil along streams

Bloom period: Spring-summer

Elevation: 1800-2600 m

Bioregions: SnBr, PR

California counties: San Bernardino

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.