Arenaria

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Arenaria (family Caryophyllaceae) A genus of low herbs or dwarf shrubs which have slender shoots, tiny, opposite leaves, and small, usually white flowers with 5 undivided petals, 10 stamens, and 3 styles (rarely more). The fruit is a tiny capsule, usually 6-toothed on opening. Several matforming species are cultivated as rockgarden plants (sandworts); others are weeds. There are about 150 species, cosmopolitan in distribution, but most common in the northern temperate zone to the Arctic.

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