3. Pyxidanthera Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 152, plate 17. 1803.
Pyxie-moss, pyxie, flowering-moss [Greek pyxidos, small box, and antheros, anther, alluding to opening of anthers by transverse slit, simulating box lid]
Bruce A. Sorrie, Alan S. Weakley, Guy L. Nesom
Subshrubs, creeping, mat-forming, caulescent, rhizomatous, from adventitiously rooted, slender, woody stems. Stems: main stems mostly prostrate to decumbent, branched; branches prostrate to decumbent. Leaves cauline, alternate, often densely congested, 2-7(-10) mm; petiole absent; blade narrowly oblanceolate to lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, margins entire, apex acute, minutely apiculate, surfaces glabrous or hairy, appearing 1-veined. Inflorescences solitary flowers, usually at tips of short, leafy branches, sessile. Flowers: sepals connate proximally; petals connate in proximal 2/5-1/2, corolla rotate, 2-5 mm, lobes white, margins entire or slightly erose; anthers 2-locular, basally spurred, transversely dehiscent; filaments adnate to corolla tube; staminodes absent. x = 6.
Species 2 (2 in the flora): se United States.
SELECTED REFERENCES Godt, M. J. W. and J. L. Hamrick. 1995. Low levels of allozyme differentiation between Pyxidanthera (pyxie-moss) taxa (Diapensiaceae). Pl. Syst. Evol. 195: 159-168. Primack, R. B. and R. Wyatt. 1975. Variation and taxonomy of Pyxidanthera (Diapensiaceae). Brittonia 27: 115-118.
