Paronychia echinulata var. echinulata

Spiny paronychia

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Spiny paronychia is a naturalized annual found in northern San Joaquin Valley near La Grange in Stanislaus County on disturbed clay soil at approximately 25 meters elevation. Flowering in spring, this delicate plant produces tiny flowers in axillary clusters 2 to 2.5 millimeters long with dense hooked hairs. Growing with slender erect stems 2 to 20 centimeters tall, it develops from a fine taproot less than 1 millimeter in diameter. Its small elliptic to oblong leaves are 3 to 7 millimeters long with green scabrous margins and abruptly pointed tips. The plant produces nearly spherical seeds approximately 0.7 millimeters in size with distinctive recurved sepal awns.

Habitat: Disturbed clay soil

Bloom period: Spring

Elevation: +- 25 m.

Bioregions: n SnJV (La Grange, Stanislaus Co.)

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