''Sabulina howellii'' is an uncommon species of 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 ...

known by the common names Howell's stitchwort and Howell's sandwort. It is native to the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

of northwestern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and southwestern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. It grows in

serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially an ...

s in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

and woodland habitat.

Description

''Sabulina howellii'' is a slightly hairy annual herb growing to a maximum height of 30 centimeters with a slender green stem which turns purple with age. The thin, rigid, almost needlelike leaves are linear or narrowly lance-shaped, up to 1.5 centimeters long and under 2 millimeters wide. The tiny flower has five white petals each a few millimeters long and smaller, ribbed

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

References

External links

Calflora: ''Minuartia howellii''''Sabulina howellii''
Jepson eFlora
USDA Plants ProfileFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery
howellii Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of the Klamath Mountains Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Flora without expected TNC conservation status Plants described in 1885 Taxa named by Sereno Watson {{Caryophyllaceae-stub