Achyronychia

Achyronychia
The stem of a very small plant lying on sand and gravel, with succulent leaves and white axillary flowers
Achyronychia cooperi
Secure
Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Achyronychia
Torr. & A.Gray
Species:
A. cooperi
Binomial name
Achyronychia cooperi
Synonyms

Corrigiola litoralis L.

Achyronychia is a monotypic genus of flowering plant containing the single species Achyronychia cooperi, which is known by the common names onyxflower and frost-mat. This plant is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of northern Mexico and the U.S. states of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. In California, it is known from San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Inyo Counties. In Arizona, it occurs in Yuma, Mohave, Pima, Pinal and Maricopa Counties. It has also been reported from Washington County in Utah, and from Clark County, Nevada.

Onyxflower is a diminutive plant which lies in a small mat flat on the ground. Its habitat is sand. It radiates several prostrate stems in all directions, each only a few centimetres long. The thick pale green leaves are paddle-shaped and under 2 centimetres (0.79 in) long. In the leaf axils grow dense bunches of tiny flowers. There are no petals, but each flower has five thin shiny white sepals that look like tiny fingernails; the genus name Achyronychia is Greek for "chaff fingernail".

References

  1. ↑ NatureServe. "Achyronychia cooperi". NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  2. ↑ "Achyronychia cooperi". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  3. ↑ "Achyronychia cooperi Torr. & A. Gray". Calflora.
  4. ↑ Kartesz, John T. (2014). "Achyronychia cooperi". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
  5. ↑ Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). "Achyronychia cooperi". Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri and Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  6. ↑ Asa Gray (1868). "Characters of New Plants of California and Elsewhere, principally of those collected by H. N. Bolander in the State Geological Survey". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 7 (2): 331.