Delicate annual, erect or spreading, simple or often branched from base, with slender green or purple stems, 2 to 12 inches tall; internodes of all stems 1 to 5 times as long as leaves; finely glandular-hairy or smooth.
Delicate annual, rarely mat-forming, stems erect to spreading; leaves opposite, thread-like; flower stems can be glandular; flowers 5-petaled in few-flowered loose rounded clusters; sepals 1 to 3 veined, rounded at the tip, half the length of the petals.
Habitat
Found in upper desert areas often in oak and pinyon-juniper communities, rocky and sandy slopes, flats, sandy soil in chaparral, also found on serpentine soils.
Flower Characteristics
Flowers at end of main stem or lateral branches, on thread-like stalks 1/4 to 1-3/4 inches long; 5 white petals with yellow center, streaked with prominent reddish midrib and lateral veins; 5 sepals, green with purple tips, 1/8 inch long.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Stems multi-branched from base, green or purple; leaves opposite, narrow, tapering to point, bases slightly wider, curling or coiling with age, evenly spaced on stem.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Round capsule on stipe (stalk), 1/4 inch high, longer than sepals.
Seeds reddish-brown, winged, 1/16 inch broad, smooth.