2. Arenaria subgen. Eremogone (Fenzl) Fenzl in Ledebour, Fl. Ross. 1: 360. 1842.
老牛筋亚属 lao niu jin ya shu
Eremogone Fenzl, Vers. Darstell. Alsin. 13. 1833.
Herbs perennial. Rhizome branched, robust. Stems pulvinate. Leaves long linear, graminoid or shortly setiform, apex spinose. Cymes terminal, occasionally contracted into a head or cymose clusters, rarely reduced to a solitary flower. Sepals conspicuously hardened at base, sometimes whole receptacle and calyx proximally becoming woody in fruit. Petals usually white.
About 70 species: primarily in C and SW Asia and North America, but extending to N Africa and Europe; nine species (three endemic) in China.
McNeill (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 24: 120–127. 1962) subdivided Arenaria subgen. Eremogone into seven sections, three of which occur in China: A. sect. Monogone Maximowicz (Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg, Sér. 3, 26: 436. 1880; species no. 7); A. sect. Capillares McNeill (loc. cit.: 122; species nos. 8–13); and A. sect. Sclerophyllae (Boissier) McNeill (loc. cit.: 126; species nos. 14 and 15).
