Stipulicida setacea Michx.

Wire Plant; Pineland Scaly Pink

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Wire Plant is a native annual or short-lived perennial in the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae). It is native to the southern half of Alabama. Wire Plant occurs in sandy pinelands, on sand hills, in scrub oak-lichen forests, and on dunes, usually in areas of bare sand in full sun. It is an annual with a taproot. The stems are erect or decumbent, repeatedly dichotomously branched, round in cross section, glabrous, and green or reddish-brown in color. Basal leaves form a rosette that is usually absent at flowering. The basal leaves are petiolate, glabrous, spatulate to obovate in outline, with entire. The stem leaves are scale-like and triangular in outline. Flowers are produced in terminal cymes. Each individual flower has 5 reddish-brown sepals, and 5 white petals, and 3 stamens. The fruit is a 3-valved capsule, with small yellowish seed.—A. Diamond

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Native

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