Stellaria crassifolia
 
Fleshy Stitchwort

Inflorescence Bract, Abaxial Side

Greenbush Bog
(20 km West of Town of Hudson Bay on Highway #3)
29-June-2012

Crassifolia: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species. 

plants perennial; NOT [plants annual]

plant freely branching, often matted; NOT [plant with a few short, erect or ascending stems]

plants glabrous, not glandular-viscid; NOT [plants more or less glandular-hairy and viscid]

basal leaves sessile; NOT [basal leaves petioled, ovate or rhombic-ovate]

leaves linear or elliptic-lanceolate, usually much more than 4 times as long as broad; NOT [leaves ovate-lanceolate, less than 4 times as long as broad]

leaves mostly 6-20 mm long; NOT [leaves mostly 2-8 mm long]

leaves mostly 2-6 mm wide; NOT [leaves mostly 1-4 mm wide]

leaves soft, slightly fleshy; NOT [leaves firm, keeled]

bracts of inflorescence all green, not scarious; NOT [bracts of inflorescence, at least the uppermost, scarious, whitish]

sepals 2-3 mm long; NOT [sepals 3.5-6 mm long]

petals equalling or longer than the sepals; NOT [petals much shorter than the sepals or none]

petals cleft more than halfway, almost to base; NOT [petals cleft less than halfway]

 

Stellaria: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 

plants NOT with woody base

plants without stipules; NOT [plants with small, ovate, papery, scarious stipules at junction of stem and leaf, and stem and branch]

sepals entirely separate; NOT [sepals united part way, forming a tube]

petals present; NOT [petals absent]

petals lacking claws; NOT [petals clawed]

petals deeply notched or 2-cleft; NOT [petals entire or merely notched at apex]

styles usually 3; NOT [styles usually 5]

ovary NOT stipitate

fruit dehiscent; NOT [fruit indehiscent]

capsule short, ovoid or ellipsoid or oblong; NOT [capsule long, cylindric, often curved]

capsule opening with twice as many valves or teeth as there are styles; NOT [capsule opening with as many entire (or later 2-cleft) valves as there are styles]

capsule usually opening with 6 valves; NOT [capsule usually opening with 10 teeth]

fruit several-seeded; NOT [fruit 1-seeded]

 

Caryophyllaceae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 

herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]

terrestrial plants; NOT [mud plants with small axillary flowers]

plants NOT with colored milky juice

plants with more than one normal leaf

leaves opposite, whorled, or basal; NOT [some or all leaves alternate]

leaves NOT glandular-dotted

plants without large petal-like bracts; NOT [plants with an involucre of 4 petal-like bracts]

flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others

sepals more than 2; NOT [sepals 2]

stamens NOT united at base; NOT [stamens united at base into 3-5 bundles]

styles 2 or more; NOT [styles single]