Flora of North America species comparison

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Amsonia ciliata

fringe blue-star, fringe slimpod, Texas slimpod
Stems

erect (basally ascending), (14–)15–49(–67) cm in flower, to 79 cm in fruit, glabrous or moderately pubescent;

branches borne on distal portion of stem, often but not always exceeding infructescence.
Leaves

petiole 0–4 mm, glabrous;

blades at least slightly heteromorphic or all linear;

stem leaf blades linear, ligulate, very narrowly elliptic to elliptic or very narrowly lanceolate, 2.5–6.5 cm × 3–15 mm, margins entire, slightly to strongly revolute, sometimes sparsely to moderately ciliate, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces glabrous;

branch leaf blades linear to ligulate or very narrowly elliptic, 2.5–5.6 cm × 0.3–6 mm.
Flowers

sepals deltate to very narrowly deltate, 0.8–1.8(–2) mm;

corolla tube bluish, greenish above, 6–9(–10) mm, lobes blue (rarely to white, or in var. texana purplish blue), 5–9(–10) mm, outer surface of corolla glabrous (very rarely inconspicuously pubescent).
Seeds

(5–)5.5–8(–9.3) × 1.3–2.1 mm.
Follicles

erect, (5.5–)6.5–13.5cm × 2–4 mm, apex acute, glabrous.

Amsonia ciliata
Distribution
from USDA
sc United States; se United States
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Distal stem and branch leaf blades very narrow, 0.3–1(–1.6) mm wide (rarely to 2.4 mm if unrolled), margins usually strongly revolute.
var. filifolia
1. Distal stem leaf blades broader than branch leaves, at least 3 mm wide, margins slightly to strongly revolute.
→ 2
2. Stems erect, seldom somewhat ascending at base, usually pubescent, less often glabrous; stem leaf blades ligulate to very narrowly elliptic (or very narrowly lanceolate), 2.5–6.5 cm × 3–10 mm; branch leaf blades linear to ligulate (very narrowly elliptic), 3–5.6 cm × 1–3 mm; corolla lobe margins not ciliate; North Carolina to Florida and Alabama.
var. ciliata
2. Stems basally ascending or less often erect, glabrous; stem leaf blades narrowly elliptic to elliptic (ligulate), (3–)3.5–6.5 cm × (3.3–)5–15 mm; branch leaf blades linear to very narrowly elliptic, 3.2–5.6 cm × 2–6 mm; corolla lobe margins often minutely ciliate; Oklahoma, Texas.
var. texana
Source FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Apocynaceae > Amsonia > subg. Amsonia
Sibling taxa
A. arenaria, A. fugatei, A. grandiflora, A. hubrichtii, A. jonesii, A. kearneyana, A. longiflora, A. ludoviciana, A. palmeri, A. peeblesii, A. rigida, A. tabernaemontana, A. tharpii, A. tomentosa
Subordinate taxa
A. ciliata var. ciliata, A. ciliata var. filifolia, A. ciliata var. texana
Name authority Walter: Fl. Carol., 98. (1788)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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