American Nailwort

Description

Paronychia americana is a species of Magnoliopsida first described by Thomas Nuttall, and given its simplified Asian name by Edward Fenzl and Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers. Paronychia americana belongs to the genus Paronychia, and the family Caryophyllaceae. Paronychia is a genus of plants in the family Caryophyllaceae with over 110 species worldwide, mostly from warm-temperate North America, Eurasia, South America and Africa. They are herbs that are annual or biennial or perennial in life span. Some species have a woody base. For the most part they have small, white to yellow-white colored flowers that are often hidden within the paired bracts. The genus Siphonychia has been incorporated into Paronychia by botanists. The common names for some of the species include chickweed, nailwort, and Whitlow-wort. The genus gets its name from the disease of the fingernails which it was once thought to cure. Traditional healers in modern-day use species of this genus to treat kidney stones.