Jump to content

Achyronychia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by NotWith (talk | contribs) at 12:52, 17 January 2014 (Category:Monotypic eudicot genera). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Achyronychia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
(unranked):
(unranked):
(unranked):
Order:
Family:
Genus:
Achyronychia
Species:
A. cooperi
Binomial name
Achyronychia cooperi

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 and Arizona. 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 centimeters long. The thick pale green leaves are paddle-shaped and under 2 centimeters 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".