Fendler's sandmat

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Fendler's sandmat

Fendler's sandmat

Fendler's sandmat

Morphology

Stem

Prostrate to ascending, 2 to 6 inches long, glabrous; not rooting at nodes. Sap milky.

Leaves

Cauline, opposite; stipules distinct, linear, usually entire, .02 to .04 inch, glabrous; petiole .02 to .04 inch, glabrous; blade orbiculate to ovate or lanceolate, .12 to .3 inch long, .08 to .28 inch wide, base asymmetric, cordate to rounded or obtuse, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescence

Cyathia, axillary, solitary; peduncle .03 to .05 inch.

Flower

Involucres campanulate to turbinate, .04 to .07 inch long, .08 to .07 inch wide, glabrous; glands 4, yellowish green to reddish green, elliptic to oblong; appendage usually white, rarely pink, discoid, entire to toothed, sometimes absent. Staminate flowers 25-35, sepals 0; petals 0; stamen 1. Pistillate flower: sepals 0; petals 0; pistil stipitate; ovary glabrous; styles 3, bifid for half their lengths.

Fruit

Capsules 3-lobed, depressed-globose, .08 to .09 inch, glabrous, stipe usually much-elongating in fruit; seeds white, angular-ovoid, .07 to .08 inch, smooth to wrinkled; caruncle absent.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky to gravelly or sandy mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies

Distribution

West 2/5 of Kansas

Additional Notes