Arenaria festucoides Royle, Illus. Bot. Himal. 81, t. 21, f. 3. 1834; Edgew. & Hook. f. in Fl. Brit. India 1: 236. 1874.

Herbs, densely caespitose, 5 - 20 cm high. Leaves subulate, concave, 6 - 38 mm long, ciliolate along margins, shiny, rigid, recurved, pungent, 1-nerved beneath. Peduncles 1-few-flowered, 2 - 12 mm long, glandular-pubescent; bracts ovate-subulate, broadly scarious-margined. Sepals ovate-lanceolate to subulate-lanceolate, acuminate at apex, 7 - 12 mm long, broadly scarious-margined, pungent; nerves 3, merging into one. Petals obovate, longer than sepals, variable in size. Capsules oblong, shorter than sepals, coriaceous; seeds flat with a fimbriate wing, ca 1.7 mm in diam., pale brown.

Fl. July - Aug.; Fr. Sept. - Oct.

Distrib. India: Alpine Western Himalayas, 3500 - 4500 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Pakistan and China (Tibet).