Sabulina decumbens

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|image =

|status = {{TNCStatus}}

|status_system = TNC

|status_ref = {{cite web |last1=NatureServe |title=Minuartia decumbens |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.158707/Minuartia_decumbens |access-date=19 January 2024 |location=Arlington, Virginia |date=2024}}

|genus = Sabulina (plant)

|species = decumbens

|authority = (T.W.Nelson & J.P.Nelson) Dillenb. & Kadereit (2014)

|synonyms = Minuartia decumbens {{small|T.W.Nelson & J.P.Nelson (1981)}}

|synonyms_ref = [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77137507-1 Sabulina decumbens (T.W.Nelson & J.P.Nelson) Dillenb. & Kadereit]. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 March 2024.

}}

Sabulina decumbens is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names The Lassics sandwort and Lassicus stitchwort.

The species was described in 1981 from the type specimen observed on Mule Ridge in a string of peaks known as The Lassics.Nelson, T. W. & J. P. Nelson. (1981). A new species of Minuartia (Caryophyllaceae) from northwest California. Brittonia 33:2 162-4.

Description

Sabulina decumbens is a low, mat-forming perennial herb growing a in a clump a few centimeters high from a thin, woody taproot. The narrow, rigid, sometimes needle-like leaves are under a centimeter long and no more than 2 millimeters wide.

The tiny flowers have purple-tipped sepals a few millimeters long and five white petals which are slightly smaller.

Distribution

It is endemic to California, where it is known from only a single occurrence in the isolated inland mountains of the North Coast Ranges in Trinity County near the Humboldt County line. It grows in the serpentine soils of the mountain forests among Jeffrey Pines.

References

{{Reflist}}