''Minuartia recurva'', the recurved sandwort or sickle-leaved sandwort, is a rare tufted, calcifugous chamaephyte

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

flowering plant in the family

Caryophyllaceae Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranth ...

. It blooms from late spring to the end of summer.

Description

This perennial, densely tufted, hairy plant has a woody base and flowering stems up to in length. The stems are wiry and lignified, with acicular leaves with three veins, curving to the side to a greater of lesser extent. The flowers are grouped in glandular flower-heads, the individual flowers being white and five-petaled. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a 1–8-flowered cyme. Sepals are long with 5–7 veins and are ovate-lanceolate; petals are long and ovate. The fruit is an ovoid capsule up to in length.

Distribution

''Minuartia recurva'' is found in mountainous regions of

southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

and southwest Asia. It is also found in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

's Caha Mountains, first noted there in 1964.

Gallery

File:Minuartia recurva Krummb. Miere.JPG, In the

Canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

File:Minuartia recurva Canigou 09.JPG, In the Pyrenees File:Minuartia recurva kz01.jpg, In Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3315635 Alpine flora recurva Flora of Europe Plants described in 1907