''Colobanthus'' is a large genus of small,

cushion A cushion is a soft bag of some ornamental material, usually stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fiber, non-woven material, cotton, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften th ...

-like herbaceous plants in the family

Caryophyllaceae Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactacea ...

, sometimes known as "pearlworts", a name they share with plants of the related genus '' Sagina''. ''C. quitensis'' is

the world's southernmost The most southerly geographical features of various types are listed here. Cities and settlements Geography Islands Berkner Island is further south than any of these, but its bedrock lies entirely below sea level, with only its ice cov ...

dicot, and one of only two native extant flowering plants of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

Selected species

* '' Colobanthus acicularis'' Hook. f. * '' Colobanthus affinis'' (Hook) Hook. f. * '' Colobanthus apetalus'' (Labill.) Druce synonym = ''Spergula apetala'' * '' Colobanthus bolivianus'' Pax * '' Colobanthus brevisepalus'' Kirk * '' Colobanthus buchananii'' Kirk * '' Colobanthus caespitosus'' Colenso * '' Colobanthus canaliculatus'' Kirk * '' Colobanthus curtisiae'' J.G. West * '' Colobanthus diffusus'' Hook. f. * '' Colobanthus hookeri'' Cheeseman * '' Colobanthus kerguelensis'' Hook. f. * '' Colobanthus lycopodoides'' Griseb. * '' Colobanthus masonae'' L.B. Moore * '' Colobanthus monticola'' Petrie * '' Colobanthus muelleri'' Kirk = ''C. billardieri'' var. ''brachypoda'' * '' Colobanthus muscoides'' Hook. f. * '' Colobanthus nivicola'' M. Gray * '' Colobanthus pulvinatus'' F. Muell. * ''

Colobanthus quitensis ''Colobanthus quitensis'', the Antarctic pearlwort, is one of two native flowering plants found in the Antarctic region. It has yellow flowers and grows about 5 cm (two inches) tall, with a cushion plant, cushion-like growth habit that gives it a ...

'' (Kunth) Bartl., = ''C. alatus'', ''C. aretioides'', ''C. billardieri'', ''C. cherlerioides'', ''C. crassifolius'', ''C. crassifolius'' var. ''aretioides'', ''C. maclovianus'', ''C. meingeni'', ''C. quitensis'' var. ''alatus'', ''C. saginoides'', ''Sagina crassifolia'', ''S. quitensis'', ''Spergula affinis''? * '' Colobanthus repens'' Colenso * '' Colobanthus squarrosus'' Cheeseman * '' Colobanthus strictus'' (Cheeseman) Cheeseman * '' Colobanthus subulatus'' (d'Urv.) Hook. f. * '' Colobanthus wallii'' Petrie

References

Caryophyllaceae genera {{Caryophyllaceae-stub