Cherleria biflora

Mountain sandwort

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Mountain sandwort is a native perennial found in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains in alpine habitats among dwarf willows at elevations of 3,150 to 3,700 meters. Flowering during summer, this plant produces small white flowers nestled among dense, mat-like green foliage. Growing as a compact, tightly clustered herb just 1 to 12 centimeters tall, it forms intricate trailing stems up to 20 centimeters long. Its leaves are distinctive needle-shaped, extremely narrow, and evenly spaced, measuring 1.5 to 8 millimeters in length with fine, flexible structures. The plant features an impressive taproot over 3 millimeters in diameter, allowing it to thrive in harsh alpine environments with unglaciated granitic and metamorphic terrain.

Habitat: Among dwarf willows, unglaciated granitics, metamorphics, alpine

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: 3150-3700 m

Bioregions: c&amps SNH

California counties: Tulare, Fresno, Inyo, Tuolumne, Mono, Mariposa, Alpine

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