Plants perennial; caudex branched, woody. Stems erect to ascending, much-branched, 10-35 cm, scabrous, puberulent to pubescent, sometimes glabrous with age. Leaves: stipules lanceolate, 5-15 mm, apex acuminate, entire; blade linear, 7-25(-34) × 0.5-1 mm, leathery, apex obtuse to subacute or submucronate, pubescent to puberulent. Cymes terminal, 20-70-flowered, open, clusters 1-2 cm wide. Flowers 5-merous, short-campanulate, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx widening somewhat distally, 1.8-2.8 mm, puberulent, glabrous to hirtellous distally; sepals green to red-brown, veins absent, oblong, 1.3-1.8 mm, leathery to rigid, margins whitish to translucent, 0.05-0.1 mm wide, scarious, apex terminated by awn, broadly rounded, awn widely divergent, 0.4-0.8 mm, conic in proximal 2- 3 with yellowish, scabrous spine; staminodes filiform, 0.6-1 mm; style 1, cleft in distal 1/ 1/ 6, 0.8-1.2 mm. Utricles ellipsoid-ovoid, 0.8-1 mm, smooth, glabrous.
Flowering summer-fall. Limestone rocky ledges, slopes, hilltops, grasslands; 500-2500 m; Colo., Kans., Nebr., N.Mex., Okla., Tex., Wyo.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila).
We agree with B. L. Turner (1983b) in not adopting the four varieties of Paronychia jamesii that Chaudhri recognized.
Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Perennial herbs, 10-35 cm tall, from a branched, woody caudex; stems erect to ascending, much-branched, scabrous, puberulent to pubescent, sometimes glabrous with age.
Leaves: Opposite along the stems, sometimes with clusters of several leaves at an attachment point; each leaf is accompanied by a scarious (transluscent and papery) stipule about the same size and shape; blades linear and leathery, 7-25 mm long and less than 1 mm wide, with a pointed tip, minutely hairy; stipules lanceolate, 5-15 mm long.
Flowers: Tiny, green and yellow, in open terminal cymes (flat-topped inflorscences) of 20-70 flowers; flowers shortly bell-shaped, 2 mm long, with 5 sepals and no petals; sepals green to red-brown, oblong, 1-2 mm long, leathery to rigid, and tipped with a yellowish, scabrous spine.
Fruits: Utricles ellipsoid-ovoid, 1 mm long, smooth and glabrous.
Ecology: Found on limestone rocky ledges, slopes, hilltops, and grasslands, from 1,500-8,500 ft (457-2591 m); flowers May-November.
Distribution: WY and NE, south to NM, TX, and ne MEX.
Notes: This odd-looking plant is distinguished by being a perennial with many stems emerging from a stout woody taproot; needle-like leaves mixed with transluscent white stipules in clusters along the stems, especially near the base of the plant; if you look closely you'll see that the leaves are opposite; the stems end in flat-topped inflorescences of yellow and green flowers; the flowers lack petals, and the 5 sepals are narrow, green to brown, spine-tipped, and spreading so that the flowers are star-shaped when viewed from the top. There are several species of Paronychia; most of the others are cushion plants that form dense mats, with stems no more than 10 cm tall.
Ethnobotany: Kiowa used it to make a tea.
Etymology: Paronychia is named for the fungal infection of the fingernails and toenails, which it was once thought to cure; jamesii honors Edwin James (1797-1861), a surgeon-naturalist with the 1820 Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains.
Editor: AHazelton 2017
