''Minuartia groenlandica'', the Greenland stitchwort or mountain stitchwort, Appalachian stitchwort, mountain sandwort, smooth mountain sandwort, and smooth sandwort is a rare

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

Rare plant fact sheet PDCAROGOEO (2004)
Maine Dept. of Conservation Natural Areas Program which grows low to the ground in clumps linked together at the bottom. It has three to five pairs of leaves in a linear opposite pattern along the length of the slender stem.Riley, J.L. (1979). Some New and Interesting Vascular Plant Records from Northern Ontario Canada. ''Canadian Field-Naturalist'', 93(4), 355-362. The main stem breaks into one to thirty cymes which each flower separately. The flowers are white and arise five to ten centimeters above the thick foliage. The white flower petals are six to ten millimeters long. The petals are, in turn, surrounded by five green sepals.Levesque, C.M., Burger, J.F. (1982). Insects (Diptera, Hymenoptera) associated with ''Minuartia groenlandica'' (Caryophyllaceae) on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA, and their possible role as pollinators. ''Arctic and Alpine Research'', 14(2), 117. The plant exists in many isolated and elevated areas, such as large

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

plateaus. Its range of distribution includes Nunavut,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

, and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in Canada. In the United States it is found in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, New York,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, and

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. It is also found in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. Within

this plant is found in Inverness County and along the south shore in only a few areas.Roland, A. E., Zinck, M., Owen, E., & Nova Scotia Museum. (1998). ''Roland's flora of Nova Scotia'' (3rd ed.). Halifax, N.S.: Nimbus Pub. & Nova Scotia Museum. The plant has a peak flowering time of two weeks in the middle of July, although it does flower anywhere between June to August. In this period pollen grains are transported from flower to flower by

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

. The most effective insect to transport pollen grains is the bumblebee ''

Bombus terricola ''Bombus terricola'', the yellow-banded bumblebee, is a species of bee in the genus ''Bombus''. It is native to southern Canada and the east and midwest of the United States. It possesses complex behavioral traits, such as the ability to adapt ...

''. This is due to tiny hairs on the bee that collect pollen, and the bee's habit of crawling all over the flower in low temperatures when it is too cold to fly. Greenland stitchwort is found in areas of high elevation where bedrock is exposed. The plant grows on rocky ledges and in fine gravel on slopes. The soil in this area has a pH of 3.1 to 4, and is low in nitrogen and phosphorus, but high in organic matter content. This region is very cloudy, has frequent fog and considerable precipitation. One study area on

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...

recorded an annual precipitation average at 1837.5 millimeters, an average wind speed of 50 km/h, and a mean annual temperature of -3.0 °C. ''Minuartia groenlandica'' was studied for use on roof tops for

insulation Insulation may refer to: Thermal * Thermal insulation, use of materials to reduce rates of heat transfer ** List of insulation materials ** Building insulation, thermal insulation added to buildings for comfort and energy efficiency *** Insulated ...

and urban greenery but was unable to tolerate drought for long enough to be used successfully.Wolf, D., & Lundholm, J. T. (2008). Water uptake in green roof microcosms: Effects of plant species and water availability. ''Ecological Engineering'', 33(2), 179. In Nova Scotia the Greenland stitchwort is sensitive to interference by humans and natural events.Rank and Status of Wildlife in Nova Scotia, 2007.
/ref> The

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservatio ...

in Nova Scotia is yellow.

Conservation status within the United States

It is listed as endangered in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, and

, as threatened in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

New York (state) New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, and as a special concern in

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6869728 Alpine flora groenlandica Flora of Greenland Flora of Canada Flora of the United States