Duration: Annual
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Low-growing annual herbs, 6-10 cm tall, occasionally up to 35 cm; stems erect to ascending, slender and delicate, unbranched or branching above the base, stipitate-glandular.
Leaves: Opposite along the stems, on short petioles; blades broadly ovate or kidney-shaped, thin, 0.5-2 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, with a small abrupt point at the tip and a flat to heart-shaped base, bright green, with persistent, filiform stipules 1-2 mm long.
Flowers: White, small and inconspicuous, borne in long-peduncled, congested, axillary and terminal clusters; sepals 5, lanceolate, 3-5 mm long, with pointed tips, covered in stipitate glands; petals 5, white, 3-4 mm long, each petal deeply cleft, the lobes rounded at the top.
Fruits: Capsule ovoid, 2 mm high, longitudinally dehiscent (splitting open longitudinally to release the seeds); seeds many, tan to reddish brown, snail-shell-shaped, less than 1 mm long.
Ecology: Found in foothills and mountain slopes, from 4,500-7,500 ft (1372-2286 m); flowers August-September.
Distribution: AZ and NM; south to MEX.
Notes: This delicate slender-stemmed annual is distinguished by its round, opposite leaves, which are usually slightly wider than they are long; the stems and sepals covered with small stipitate glands (use your hand lens); and the small white petals that are deeply cleft, making it appear as though there are 10 petals rather than 5.
Ethnobotany: A poultice of the chewed plant was applied to mouse bites.
Etymology: Drymaria is from the Greek drymos, forest or woodland, and -aria, pertaining to; glandulosa refers to the glands covering the stems and sepals.
Editor: LCrumbacher 2011, AHazelton 2017
