Arenaria rubra Linnaeus var. marina Linnaeus; Spergularia salina J. Presl & C. Presl.

Herbs annual or biennial, rarely perennial, with slender or slightly fleshy stock. Stems 10--30 cm tall, densely pubescent. Leaves not or rarely fasciculate, 5--30 × 1--1.5 mm, fleshy, apex mucronate; stipules not silvery, broadly triangular, forming a sheath. Flowers terminal or axillary; bracts reduced. Sepals ovate, ca. 3.5 × 1.5--1.8 mm, abaxially glandular pubescent, margin membranous. Petals pink above, white near base, rarely entirely white, ovate-oblong or elliptic-ovate, shorter than sepals, apex obtuse. Stamens 2--5. Capsule 5--6 mm, ovoid, usually exceeding calyx. Seeds light brown, 0.5--0.7 mm, smooth or densely tuberculate, mostly unwinged, sometimes with erose wing. Fl. Apr--Jul, fr. May--Sep. 2n = 36.

The nomenclatural history involving the first use of the epithet marina at the species rank is complex, and some authors feel that Spergularia salina is the correct name for this taxon.

Saline soils, salt meadows, riversides, lakesides, farmlands; 200--2800 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia; N Africa, Europe, North America].