Minuartia

Minuartia
File:Minuartia gerardii.jpg
Minuartia gerardii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Caryophyllaceae
Genus:	Minuartia L.
Species
See text.

Minuartia is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as "sandworts" in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae. They are characterised by opposite and decussate leaves, flowers with 5 petals and sepals, 10 stamens, 3(-4) styles, and capsules with 3(-4) valves.

Minuartias are small annual or perennial plants which grow in otherwise inhospitable conditions such as on rocky ledges and in stony soil. They are found in arctic and alpine environments. The genus is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, being native in Asia, Europe and North America.

Many Minuartia species were formerly classed in the genus Arenaria, and the obsolete genus Alsine. Minuartia sedoides was previously placed in Cherleria.

The genus was named for J. Minuart (1693–1768), a Spanish botanist and pharmacist.

Selected species

• Minuartia arctica – Arctic sandwort
• Minuartia austromontana – Columbian sandwort
• Minuartia biflora – mountain sandwort
• Minuartia bosniaca – Bosnian sandwort
• Minuartia californica – California sandwort
• Minuartia caroliniana – pinebarren sandwort
• Minuartia cherlerioides
• Minuartia cismontana
• Minuartia cumberlandensis – Cumberland sandwort
• Minuartia dawsonensis – rock sandwort
• Minuartia decumbens – Lassicus sandwort
• Minuartia dirphya
• Minuartia douglasii – Douglas' sandwort
• Minuartia drummondii – Drummond's sandwort
• Minuartia elegans
• Minuartia filiorum – threadbranch sandwort
• Minuartia gerardii
• Minuartia glabra – Appalachian sandwort
• Minuartia godfreyi – Godfrey's sandwort
• Minuartia graminifolia (syn. Alsine rosani)
• Minuartia groenlandica – Greenland stitchwort, mountain sandwort
• Minuartia howellii – Howell's sandwort
• Minuartia laricifolia
• Minuartia macrantha – House's sandwort
• Minuartia macrocarpa – longpod sandwort
• Minuartia marcescens – serpentine sandwort
• Minuartia michauxii – rock sandwort
• Minuartia muscorum – Dixie sandwort
• Minuartia nuttallii – Nuttall's sandwort
• Minuartia obtusiloba – twinflower sandwort
• Minuartia patula – pitcher's sandwort
• Minuartia pusilla – annual sandwort
• Minuartia rosei – peanut sandwort
• Minuartia rossii – Ross' sandwort
• Minuartia rubella
• Minuartia sedoides – mossy cyphel; dwarf cherleria. Confined to high mountains in Europe.
• Minuartia sintenisii – Troodos sandwort
• Minuartia stolonifera
• Minuartia stricta – bog sandwort
• Minuartia tenella – slender sandwort
• Minuartia uniflora
• Minuartia verna – spring sandwort
• Minuartia viscosa
• Minuartia yukonensis – Yukon sandwort