Arenaria musciformis Wallich ex Edgeworth & J. D. Hooker in J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 1: 237. 1874, not Triana & Planchon (1862).

Herbs perennial. Roots robust, woody. Stems clustered, pulvinate, 3--5 cm, woody, with crowded, withered, persistent leaves proximally. Leaves crowded; leaf blade linear, triangular in cross section, 4--9 × ca. 1 mm, veins raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, base clasping, broadened, hard, margin slightly involute, narrowly membranous, sparsely ciliate, apex spreading or reflexed, acute. Flower solitary, sessile; bracts lanceolate, ca. 3 × 1 mm, 1-veined, base broadened, margin membranous, apex acute. Sepals 5, elliptic-lanceolate, ca. 4 × 1.5 mm, 3-veined, base broadened, margin membranous, apex acute. Petals 5, white, narrowly obovate, slightly longer than sepals. Floral disc patellate, with 5 orbicular glands. Stamens 10; filaments ca. 3 mm; anthers yellow. Ovary ovoid-globose, ca. 1.5 mm, 1-loculed; ovules numerous. Styles 3, linear, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Jun--Jul.

Alpine meadows, stony slopes, gravelly sands along rivers; 4200--5200 m. S Qinghai, Xizang [Nepal, Sikkim].