Phemeranthus confertiflorus (Greene) Hershk.

국표에 없다.

Phemeranthus confertiflorus.  Synonyms: Phemeranthus parviflorus, Talinum confertiflorum. (Rocky Mountain Rockpink, Rocky Mountain Fameflower).
Montiaceae (Miner's Lettuce Family)

Semi-desert, foothills, montane. Gravels, openings. Spring, summer, fall.
Above: Echo Basin, July 7, 2016.
Left: Echo Basin, July 7, 2016 and Mesa Verde National Park, Wetherill Mesa, August 25, 2016.

Tiny Phemeranthus confertiflorus is a delight to find, but you almost certainly will not find it unless you walk, stooped over, at less than a snail's pace. That's how Betty and I found these plants.

Phemeranthus confertiflorus can grow to 20 cm tall, but the plants shown on this page are just 3-12 cm. Leaves are thick and no more than 10 cm long; those shown here are 3-5 cm long.

Flowers are ephemeral, hence the name, so when you are looking for Phemeranthus confertiflorus you want to look for the plant's leaves, not its flowers.

The species' favorite habitat is that shown on this page  --  gravelly areas in the cracks of large expanses of rock. The photographs at the top of the page give you an idea of the habitat  --  and the difficulty in finding this miniature.

Even though the expanse of rock shown above did nurture dozens of Phemeranthus confertiflorus, none had open flowers. The second photograph at left shows one of more than a dozen plants we found that had a few flower buds, a number of maturing seed pods, but no fully opened flowers. We were there at the wrong time for flowers. Phemeranthus expert David Ferguson explains:

Flowers in all species [of Phemeranthus] are normally open for an hour or two during only one day, and in all species flowers open at a specific time of day (mostly afternoon).

Flowers are usually white, but may vary to pink.

The ephemeral flowering of this species gave rise to the genus name  --  or so it would seem. Greek gives us "ephemer", "for a day" or "temporary", but Greek also gives us "phem", "to speak" or "to report" and the Greek goddess of fame was Pheme. The plant is often commonly called "Fame Flower", but it is just as often called the derivative, "Flame Flower". Since Phemeranthus often grows in rocky areas and some species of Phemeranthus are pink, another common name is "Rockpink". Could common names be more confused and confusing?

"Anthus" is Greek for "flower" and "confertiflorus" means "with crowded flowers".

Phemeranthus confertiflorus was first named Talinum confertifolium by Edwin Greene in 1881 from a collection he made in Grant County, New Mexico in 1880. M. A. Hershkovitz moved the species to the Phemeranthus genus in 1997. For decades many floras have called the species in our area, Phemeranthus (or Talinum) parviflorus. Research has shown the two species (Phemeranthus confertiflorus and Phemeranthus parviflorus) to be quite distinct with the latter found scattered through the middle U.S. states and Phemeranthus confertiflorus found west of there, as the maps below show.

The Phemeranthus genus was named by Rafinesque in 1801.

 

Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Phemeranthus confertiflorus (swcoloradowildflowers.com)

 

https://youtu.be/nl5G0mMkwxc?t=3115