Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Cardionema ramosissimum is a beach-dwelling plant of the pink family, Caryophyllaceae, which is known by the common name sandcarpet. This is a flat or clumping mat-forming perennial plant which grows along the coastline of western North America, as well as Chile. >From a taproot it extends many petite to sprawling stems up to 30 centimeters long and covered in very tiny leaves, which are about a centimeter long and needlelike. Filling in the spaces between the spine-shaped leaves are long stipules. The plant bears tiny woolly flowers. This thick plant forms a blanket on the sand and can be used for erosion control on beaches.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

1 ft Tall

Sun

Full Sun

Soil drainage

Fast

Propagation

For propagating by seed: No treatment.

Site type

Sandy beaches and hills, dunes, bluffs

Plant communities

Coastal Sage Scrub, Coastal Strand, Northern Coastal Scrub