Sagina (redirected from Sagina (genus))

Sagina 

a genus of plants of the family Caryophyllaceae. They are annual or perennial herbs that often form mats. The slender stems are decumbent or suberect and have linear-lanceolate or subulate leaves. The flowers are generally small, on axillary pedicels or in inflorescences. The perianth is five-parted. The petals are usually white or sometimes absent. The fruit is a capsule. There are about 30 species of Sagina, distributed primarily in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere; some species are encountered in the mountains of southern and eastern Africa, South America, and New Guinea. There are eight species in the USSR. Particularly widespread are S. procumbens and S. nodosa, which are commonly encountered on damp meadows, along bodies of water, in pastures, and along roads. S. saginoides, which grows in the arctic zone and in the alpine mountain zone on rocky slopes, among rocks, and in gravel, serves as fodder for sheep.