Arctic Pearlwort

Description

Sagina saginoides is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names arctic pearlwort or alpine pearlwort. It has a circumboreal distribution; it can be found throughout the northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. It grows in subalpine and alpine climates and other mountainous habitat at lower elevations. This is a small perennial herb producing a slender to threadlike stem just a few centimetres long, growing decumbent or erect. It is sometimes clumpy in form. The leaves are linear in shape and about 1 to 2 centimetres in length. The inflorescence is a solitary flower with five sepals and five small white petals. The alpine pearlwort is a small, tufted perennial plant growing from 3 to 10 centimetres (1.2 to 3.9 in) tall. Its stems are semi-erect and the stalked leaves are in opposite fused pairs with slender linear blades, entire margins and blunt tips. The erect flowering stem bears a globular bud followed by a single regular flower about 2 mm (0.1 in) in diameter. It has five turned back sepals, five white, ovate, blunt petals which are the same length as the sepals, ten stamens and five styles. The fruit is a five-chambered capsule and longer than the calyx. The snow pearlwort (Sagina nivalis) looks very similar but often has four rather than five petals.