Arenaria

Arenaria 

a genus of birds of the family Charadridae. The body is approximately 25 cm long; the plumage is variegated (black with white and rust).

There are two species. The turnstone (A. interpres) is found in northern Europe, Asia, and North America; in the USSR it is found along the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, and the Bering Sea. The turnstone winters in Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and South America. The black turnstone (A. melano-cephala) is distinguished by darker plumage. It inhabits the coast of Alaska; in the USSR some migrating birds have reached Vrangel’ Island and the Chukotka Peninsula.

Turnstones stay on seacoasts. The nest (a hole with scanty lining) is made on the ground. The clutch contains three or four variegated eggs; both parents sit on the nest for 21-23 days. The bird feeds on small invertebrates, which it finds by turning over stones (hence the name), and on algae tossed up by the sea.

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Arenaria 

a genus of plants of the family Caryophyllaceae. The plants are perennial or, less commonly, annual or biennial herbs; occasionally they are subshrubs. The opposite leaves range in shape from round to nearly subulate. The flowers, which are usually white, grow in few-flowered inflorescences; less commonly they are solitary. The perianth is five- or, less commonly, four-parted. The fruit is a capsule.

There are more than 160 species (according to other data, 250), distributed in the temperate and cold zones of the northern hemisphere and in the mountains of South America. Thirty-five species are encountered in the USSR. The most common species include the thyme-leaved sandwort (A. serpyllifolia), an annual that grows on dry sandy soils. It often grows as a weed in fields and near dwellings in the European USSR, the Caucasus, Western Siberia, and Middle Asia. Its many tiny seeds result in a multitude of weeds in the soil. The species A. capillaris, a perennial, grows on rocky slopes, on cliffs, and in dry tundra in the arctic, the Altai, Eastern Siberia, and the Far East. Its roots, like those of A. juncea (which grows in Eastern Siberia and the Far East), are rich in saponins. A. procera is widespread on steppe slopes and in pine forests. A number of species, including A. grandiflora and A. purpurascens, are cultivated as ornamentals.

Sometimes the subshrub forms of Arenaria are separated into another genus.

T. V. EGOROVA