Index / Search / Arenaria kingii

§1 Plant

Arenaria kingii (S. Watson) M.E. Jones

vernacular King's sandwort — species · Caryophyllaceae

USDA: ARKI
GBIF: 6364573 syn.
Rank: species

King's sandwort (Arenaria kingii) — Platephotograph · Jim MorefieldCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb, Subshrub
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Caryophyllaceae Juss.
Genus: Arenaria

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 81 counties across 7 states/territories

Legend Native · 81 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Low
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -28 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 120 min.
Precipitation: 8–20 in/yr
pH range: 5.9–8
Root depth: 11 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 0.7 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Porous
Porosity (winter): Porous
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Summer
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 650,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 81 counties across 7 states/territories.

California view state ↗ 19 N ▾

Colorado view state ↗ 7 N ▾

Idaho view state ↗ 13 N ▾

Nevada view state ↗ 15 N ▾

Oregon view state ↗ 6 N ▾

Utah view state ↗ 18 N ▾

Wyoming view state ↗ 3 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ARKI ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/6364573 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z