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2 Sepal awns green to brown or yellow. | |
5 Leaf apices not conspicuously mucronate (if submucronate as in P. lindheimeri, then leaves also linear to filiform), but otherwise obtuse, acute, or minutely cuspidate; leaves linear or subulate, 0.3-1 mm wide, 10-20+× as long as wide; [west of the Mississippi River, or disjunct eastwards in the inland provinces of AL, GA, VA, WV, MD, and DC]. | |
7 Stems glabrous to minutely puberulent; terminal flower clusters 0.5-1.5 mm wide, the calyces extending past the subtending bracts; [mainly of limestone soils on the Edwards Plateau and adjacent areas] | |
7 Stems strongly hispid or puberulent; terminal flower clusters 3-15 mm wide, the subtending bracts exceeding the calyces; [mainly of Coastal Plain sands in e., se., and s. TX]. | |
9 Calyx (not including the awn) 2.0-2.9 mm long, lanceolate-triangular, with the midvein and 2 lateral veins prominent. | |
10 Sepals glabrous; calyx+awn (3.0-) avg. 3.8 (-4.9) mm long; sepal awns (0.2-) avg. 0.6 (-1.1) mm long, glabrous; sepal awns with little or no back-curvature; stems and leaves glabrous to minutely pubescent, the stem hairiness (when present) mainly isolated to near-nodal portions of the stem; [disjunctly scattered east of the Mississippi River, in c. AL, ec. GA, w. VA, e. WV, DC, and sc. & w. MD] | |
11 Sepals petaloid, the tip, margins, or entire sepal whitish; perigynous zone very well developed (mostly equaling or somewhat longer than the sepals); [of the Coastal Plain, from SC southward and westward]; [subgenus Siphonychia]. | |
14 Sepal apices not mucronate, instead broadly rounded or truncate; sepals forming a broadly rounded or dilated hood; CHECK THIS BUT: Pubescent portion of the sepal nearly ½ its length; sepals broadly rounded and hooded; stem glabrous to glabrate, finely retrorse-pubescent, or one side with curly hairs. | |
15 Plants diffuse annuals with slender taproots, the taproots of similar width or only slightly thicker than the primary stem; flowers 1-1.5 mm long; sepal lobes widely obovate (due to broadly distinct apical dilation), flowers appearing more broadly rounded (and obscurely or not strongly 5-angled) due to lack of conspicuously raised marginal costae; [south-central SC s. to FL, w. to AL] | |
11 Sepals not petaloid, green, sometimes scarious-margined; perigynous zone somewhat shorter than the sepals; [of various provinces, collectively widespread in our area]; [subgenus Paronychia]. | |
18 Plant a perennial; stems 2-12 dm long, glabrous or minutely puberulent in longitudinal bands; flowers 1.45-1.55 mm long, more or less glabrous; sepals 1-1.2 mm long, oblong, with a brownish margin; style 0.35-0.4 mm long, the 2 lobes divergent-recurved at maturity; fruit narrowed to the top | |
19 Flowers 3, 4, or 5-merous, 0.5-0.8 mm long; plants often exhibiting sexual dimorphism or polygamodioecy (male plants more openly branched and trailing; female or hermaphroditic plants more densely matted with shorter, somewhat erect branches); [endemic to sandy lake margins or scrub of Florida]. | |
21 Style elongate, 0.6-0.75 mm long, often bent; anthers 0.25-0.3 mm in diameter; stipular bracts subtending the flowers narrowly lanceolate, ca. 0.5× as long as the flowers | |
21 Style short, 0.3-0.35 mm long, straight; anthers ca. 0.15 mm in diameter; stipular bracts subtending the flowers lanceolate, from much shorter than to exceeding the flowers. | |
22 Stems retrorsely puberulent (sometimes sparsely so); sepals leathery, 1-1.2 mm long; leaves oblanceolate, 5-15 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, acute (rarely sub-obtuse to obtuse), firm in texture, dull brownish-green. | |