Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Western rock jasmine

WESTERN ROCK JASMINE

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Androsace occidentalis Pursh

Jewell County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 1-4 inches

Family: Primulaceae - Primrose Family

Flowering Period: March, April, May

Stems:

Flowering stalks erect, slender, leafless, rough with star-shaped hairs; often several arched-ascending lateral stalks.

Leaves:

In basal rosette, simple, nearly sessile, oblong-lanceolate, to 3/4 inch long, 1/4 inch wide, short stiff-hairy above, glabrous below; margins entire or sometimes minutely toothed above middle; tips rounded.

Inflorescences:

Umbels, erect or ascending, 2-10-flowered, terminal; subtending bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate, minutely pubescent; tips pointed.

Flowers:

On stalks usually less than 1 inch long; calyces persistent, 5-lobed, lobes erect at flowering, sometimes spreading in fruit, tips often reddish; corollas 5-parted, about 1/10 inch wide, shorter than or about equal to calyx, white or pinkish, lobes overlapping; stamens 5.

Fruits:

Capsules, rounded, included in calyx tubes; seeds numerous, tiny, black.

Habitat:

Dry, open, prairies, hillsides, ravines, and rocky open woods, on sandy or limestone soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Comments:

Western rock jasmine is diminutive and easily overlooked. It sometimes is used in rock gardens and can be raised from seeds.

Western rock jasmine