Acourtia runcinata
Asteraceae tribe Mutisieae
desert paeonia, featherleaf desertpeony
basal;
petioles 0.5–9 cm;
blades oblong-oblanceolate, 2.5–23 cm, bases cuneate, margins pinnately lobed (lobes ovate), spinulose-dentate, apices acute, faces hirtellous and/or finely stipitate-glandular.
basal and/or cauline; alternate [opposite]; petiolate or sessile;
margins entire, dentate, pinnately lobed, or pinnatifid [pinnately compound, spiny, tipped with tendrils].
turbinate, 14–17 mm.
reticulate, hispidulous.
flat to convex, epaleate [paleate] (usually ± foveolate to alveolate, margins of sockets sometimes ± membranous).
25–53;
corollas pink or lavender-pink, 12–22 mm.
of 1, 2, or 3+ kinds in a head (some not readily assignable to usual ray- and disc-floret categories, ± 3 combinations in the flora): (1) all florets bisexual and fertile, corollas actinomorphic (Gochnatia, Hecastocleis) or zygomorphic (often 2-lipped; Acourtia, Trixis); (2) outer florets pistillate and inner bisexual, corollas actinomorphic (Adenocaulon); and (3) outer florets pistillate, corollas usually zygomorphic (raylike or liguliform to 2-lipped), sometimes lacking limbs (reduced to tubes), inner florets bisexual or functionally staminate, corollas zygomorphic (2-lipped) or actinomorphic (Chaptalia, Leibnitzia);
anther bases ± tailed, apical appendages ovate or lanceolate to linear [none];
styles (bisexual, fertile florets) abaxially glabrous or papillate to hairy, branches ± linear, adaxially stigmatic in 2 lines from bases nearly to apices (± continuous around apices in Adenocaulon), apices rounded or truncate, appendages essentially none.
in 2–4 series, lanceolate to subulate (3–15 mm), margins glandular-hairy, apices acuminate, abaxial faces glandular.
persistent or tardily falling, in 1–5+ series, distinct or connate, unequal to subequal, usually ± herbaceous, margins and apices seldom notably scarious.
usually 0 (of 3–7 bractlets in Trixis; second-order heads subtended by leaflike bracts in Hecastocleis).
borne singly or 2–3 together (on scapiform peduncles).
homogamous (discoid in Gochnatia, Hecastocleis; quasi-discoid, -radiate, or -liguliflorous in Acourtia, Trixis) or heterogamous (disciform in Adenocaulon, disciform or quasi-radiate or -liguliflorous in Chaptalia and Leibnitzia; sometimes cleistogamous in Chaptalia and Leibnitzia);
borne singly (sometimes on scapiform stems) or in corymbiform, paniculiform, or racemiform arrays (aggregated in second-order heads, florets 1–3 per individual head in Hecastocleis).
fusiform to linear-fusiform, 4–8 mm, stipitate-glandular and/or hispidulous;
pappi tan or white, 1–17 mm.
± monomorphic within heads, usually cylindric, clavate, fusiform, or turbinate, sometimes ± beaked, bodies smooth or ribbed (glabrous, glabrate, sericeous, or velutinous; sometimes distally stipitate-glandular, Adenocaulon);
pappi 0 or persistent, of smooth or barbellulate to plumose bristles or subulate to setiform and plumose scales.
= ca. 54.
Acourtia runcinata
Asteraceae tribe Mutisieae
Acourtia runcinata is the most widespread species of the genus, within which it is unique in possessing fasciculate, tuberous-fusiform roots. In the flora, it grows in central and southwestern Texas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Genera ca. 76, species ca. 1000 (7 genera, 14 species in the flora).
Mutisieae as traditionally circumscribed is now considered to be polyphyletic. Molecular work has shown that Barnadesia and its allies, a South American group formerly placed in Mutisieae, constitute the basal clade of the family; they are now treated as a distinct subfamily, Barnadesioideae (K. Bremer and R. K. Jansen 1992). Similarly, J. L. Panero and V. A. Funk (2002) segregated two additional subfamilies from Mutisieae (based on Gochnatia and on Hecastocleis). Mutisieae in the broad sense are centered in the New World tropics and subtropics and are relatively poorly represented elsewhere.
Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex Hooker f. (Transvaal Daisy; perennials, leaves in basal rosettes, petioles 10–20+ cm, blades usually pinnately lobed, 12–25+ cm, abaxially lanate, peduncles scapiform, to 50+ cm, ray corollas red to orange, pink, or yellow, laminae 2–3+ cm) has been noted as established in Florida (http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves: abaxial faces glabrous or with scattered, straight, sometimes glandular, hairs and/or double hairs | → 2 |
1. Leaves: abaxial faces usually tomentose, tomentulose, or covered with dense wool (thinly gray-tomentose in Leibnitzia) | → 4 |
2. Leaf blades narrowly linear-lanceolate (spiny near bases, ± thickened at margins); corollas actinomorphic; style-branch apices rounded | Hecastocleis |
2. Leaves broadly lanceolate or ovate (sometimes linear-lanceolate in Trixis; not spiny at bases or thickened at margins); corollas 2-lipped; style-branch apices truncate | → 3 |
3. Perennials (caudices brown-woolly); corollas pink, lavender, or white | Acourtia |
3. Shrubs; corollas yellow | Trixis |
4. Shrubs or subshrubs; leaves (stiff): adaxial faces dark green; corollas actinomorphic (heads discoid) | Gochnatia |
4. Perennials; leaves (soft): adaxial faces light green; corollas actinomorphic (heads discoid or disciform) or actinomorphic and zygomorphic (heads disciform or quasi-radiate) | → 5 |
5. Leaf blades triangular to broadly triangular, bases cordate to hastate; heads in paniculiform arrays; corollas of inner florets actinomorphic | Adenocaulon |
5. Leaf blades elliptic to obovate, bases cuneate; heads borne singly; corollas of inner florets zygomorphic (2-lipped) or nearly actinomorphic | → 6 |
6. Heads chasmogamous (produced well after rosette leaves); cypselae glabrous or pubescent (hairs relatively short, apices rounded or apiculate) | Chaptalia |
6. Heads chasmogamous (early spring, before and concurrently with first rosette leaves) or cleistogamous (produced after rosette leaves); cypselae strigose to hispid (hairs relatively long, apices sharp-pointed) | Leibnitzia |
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