Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

JAMES' NAILWORT

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Paronychia jamesii Torr. & A. Gray

Russell County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-10 inches

Family: Caryophyllaceae - Pink Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, much-branched above, rough or minutely pubescent, sometimes glabrescent; nodes sometimes swollen.

Leaves:

Opposite, basal and cauline, basal often withering early; stipules lanceolate, .2 to .6 inch, membranous; petiole sometimes present on basal leaves, usually absent on cauline leaves; blade linear, .3 to 1.2 inch long, less than 1/25 inch wide, tip obtuse to acute or mucronate, margins entire, surfaces puberulent to pubescent.

Inflorescences:

Cymes, terminal, 20-70-flowered, uppermost flowers often in 3s.

Flowers:

Sepals 5, slightly connate basally, forming short tube, lobes lanceolate, 1/16 to 1/10 inch, margins membranous, apex acuminate; petals 5, thread-like; stamens 5; styles 2.

Fruits:

Utricles, ellipsoid to ovoid, ca. 1/25 inch, smooth; seeds brown or reddish brown, nearly spherical to ellipsoid.

Habitat:

Rocky to gravelly mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies, rock outcrops

Distribution:

West 2/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Uses:

The Kiowa brewed a tea-like beverage from the plant.

Comments:

Named for Edwin James, botanist and geologist with Stephen Long's expedition of 1819-1820. Paronychia, beside and fingernail, alluding to its use for treating diseases of the fingernail.

James' nailwort