Lepuropetalon

Lepuropetalon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Celastrales
Family:	Celastraceae
Genus:	Lepuropetalon Stephen Elliott
Species:	L. spathulatum
Binomial name
Lepuropetalon spathulatum Stephen Elliott

Lepuropetalon is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae as that family was defined by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group in 2009. Before the publication of the APG III system in 2009, Lepuropetalon had been placed with Parnassia in the family Parnassiaceae, now usually treated as a segregate of Celastraceae. Lepuropetalon has only one species, Lepuropetalon spathulatum. It is a winter annual that is most abundant in eastern Texas and western Louisiana. From there, it occurs sporadically southward into Mexico, and eastward thru the , and rarely in the Piedmont Plateau, to North Carolina. It has a disjunct distribution. In addition to the area mentioned above, it is also found in Uruguay and central Chile.

It is one of the smallest of terrestrial flowering plants and some consider it to be the smallest. Due its small size, petiteplant has been used as a common name. Because it is so easily overlooked, it is probably much more abundant than records indicate. It is found in moist areas, usually in soils that are sandy or derived from granite. It is common along the edges of soil-filled depressions on top of rocks. It is often seen in cemeteries and clearings for power lines. Because it is common in habitats that are maintained by humans, but not intensively cultivated, it is probably more abundant now than it was naturally.

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