Sagina decumbens (Elliot) Torrey & A. Gray   ssp. occidentalis (S. Watson) G. Crow   =Sagina occidentalis   Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family)   Native   Western Pearlwort

                              April Photo               

Plant Characteristics:  Minute inconspicuous annual, 2-10 cm. high, stems generally erect or ascending; lvs. filiform or the upper subulate, 6-10 mm. long; pedicels 6-15 mm. long; calyx hispidulous-glandular, 1.5 mm. long; petals 5, almost as long; fls. whitish, small, terminal on stems; sepals 5; caps. 5 valved, many seeded, the valves opposite the sepals, 2-2.5 mm. long; seeds smoothish, 0.3 mm. long.

Habitat:  Brushy and wooded places below 8000 ft.; many Plant Communities; San Diego Co. n. to B.C.; Santa Cruz Id.  March-June.

Name:  Latin, sagina, fattening, once applied to Spergula, used in Europe for forage.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 341). Latin, occidentalis, western.  (Jaeger 170).  Latin, decumbo, to recline, to lie down.  (Jaeger 77).  The new Jepson Manual species name does not fit the characteristics of the plant.  (my comment).

General:  Rare in the study area, found only once and this on the bluff-top southerly of San Joaquin Hills Rd. and northerly of the Newporter Canyon.  My specimens have calyx segments that measure 3 mm. long, much larger than described above.   The habitat for this plant was destroyed when the bluff top was graded for housing in about 1997.  (my comments).        About 10 species of cool or temperate regions.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 341).

Text Ref:  Abrams Vol. II 145; Hickman, Ed. 487, 1335; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 341.

Photo Ref:  April 2 93 # 10A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.  

First Found:  April 1993.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 440

Plant specimen donated to UC Riverside in 2004..

Last edit 8/4/05.