Arenaria canadensis Persoon, Syn. Pl. 1: 504. 1805

Plants annual, delicate to stout, 3-25 cm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular throughout or only in inflorescence. Taproots slender. Stems prostrate or decumbent to erect, usually branched prox-imally; main stem usually 0.4-1.8 mm diam. proximally. Leaves: stipules inconspicuous, dull white, broadly triangular, 1-2.8 mm, apex obtuse to acute; blade linear, 1.5-4.5 cm, fleshy, apex ± blunt; axillary leaf clusters mostly absent. Cymes simple to 2+-compound or flowers solitary and axillary. Pedicels reflexed in fruit. Flowers: sepals connate 0.5-0.6 mm proximally, lobes weakly 1-veined, ovate to elliptic-oblong, 2.2-3.5 mm, to 4.3-4.5 mm in fruit, margins 0.2-0.5 mm wide, apex ± acute to rounded; petals white or pink, narrowly ovate, 0.9-1 times as long as sepals; stamens 2-4; styles 0.3-0.7 mm. Capsules greenish, 3.5-5.3 mm, 1.2-2 times as long as sepals. Seeds reddish brown, submarginal groove absent, broadly ovate, compressed, 0.9-1.4 mm, shiny, ± smooth, papillate; wing absent or often present, whitish, 0.2-0.3 mm wide, margins irregular.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): coastal North America.