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California sun cup, southern suncup

intermediate sun cups, intermediate suncup

Habit Herbs annual, rarely short-lived perennial, usually villous, sometimes strigillose. Herbs annual, appearing greenish, moderately villous, often also glandular puberulent on stems distally and on inflorescences.
Stems

1–several from base, ascending or decumbent, to 80 cm.

erect, usually with 1+ ascending branches from basal rosette, 30–60 cm.

Leaves

1.2–12 × 0.2–1.5 cm;

petiole 0–4 cm, distal ones 0–0.3 cm;

blade (basal) narrowly elliptic or (cauline) usually narrowly lanceolate or lanceolate, rarely linear, base (basal) narrowly cuneate, (cauline) cuneate or subcordate, margins usually sparsely and inconspicuously denticulate, apex acute.

1–12 × 0.2–1.7 cm;

petiole 0–1 cm, distal ones sessile;

blade lanceolate to narrowly ovate, base cuneate to truncate, basal and proximal cauline often attenuate, margins denticulate, apex acute.

Flowers

opening near sunrise;

floral tube 2–5(–7.5) mm;

sepals (2.3–)5–8(–11) mm;

petals yellow, each usually with 1 bright red dot, rarely 2, near base, (4.2–)7–15 mm; episepalous filaments (1–)1.5–3.5 mm, epipetalous filaments (0.5–)1–2.5 mm, anthers (0.5–)1.3–2(–2.5) mm, less than 5% of pollen grains 4- or 5-pored;

style (5.5–)7–12 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.

opening near sunrise;

floral tube 1.2–2 mm;

sepals 1–2.5 mm;

petals yellow, with 1 or 2 red dots basally, 1.5–3.5(–4.5) mm; episepalous filaments 0.8–1.5 mm, epipetalous filaments 0.5–0.9 mm, anthers 0.4–0.5 mm, less than 5% of pollen grains 4- or 5-pored;

style 2–3.5 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis.

Capsules

straight or somewhat contorted, weakly 4-angled, 12–40 × 1.5–2.5 mm.

straight or 1-coiled spiral, subterete in living material, 4-angled when dry, 13–25 × 1.1–1.2 mm.

Seeds

0.9–1 mm.

0.7–1.1 mm.

2n

= 14.

= 28.

Camissoniopsis bistorta

Camissoniopsis intermedia

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun. Flowering Mar–Jun(–Sep).
Habitat Sandy or clayey soils, coastal strands, grasslands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodlands, margins of Sonoran and Mojave deserts, rarely higher elevation meadows. Disturbed brushy slopes, on burns.
Elevation 0–1600(–2600) m. [0–5200(–8500) ft.] (150–)300–800 m. [(500–)1000–2600 ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Camissoniopsis bistorta occurs in California from Ventura County south and east through the counties of southern Los Angeles, southwestern San Bernardino, Orange, western Riverside, and the western two-thirds of San Diego, reaching the margins of the desert in San Bernardino and San Diego counties, and southward in cismontane Baja California to Ojos Negros and San Vicente. The species occurs at exceptionally high elevations in the Santa Ana drainage of the San Bernardino Mountains. P. H. Raven (1969) indicated that there were occasional apparent hybrids between C. cheiranthifolia subsp. suffruticosa and C. bistorta occurring in intermediate habitats in areas where the two species co-occur. He determined that C. bistorta is self-incompatible.

Camissoniopsis bistorta was apparently introduced with stream gravel in 1959 in Goleta Marsh, Santa Barbara, California, and on ballast heaps at Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in 1893. It has apparently not persisted at either site.

Oenothera heterophylla Nuttall ex Hooker & Arnott (1839), not Spach (1836), is an illegitimate name that pertains to Camissoniopsis bistorta.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Camissoniopsis intermedia occurs from Lake and Yolo counties (where rare) south in the Coast Ranges of California to the western San Gabriel Mountains, western Riverside and San Diego counties, and south in Baja California to the south end of the Sierra San Miguel; also on Santa Catalina and Santa Cruz islands. P. H. Raven (1969) determined C. intermedia to be self-compatible and primarily autogamous. The species is apparently a tetraploid derived via hybridization between two diploid (2n = 14) species, C. hirtella and C. micrantha.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Camissoniopsis Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Camissoniopsis
Sibling taxa
C. cheiranthifolia, C. confusa, C. guadalupensis, C. hardhamiae, C. hirtella, C. ignota, C. intermedia, C. lewisii, C. luciae, C. micrantha, C. pallida, C. robusta
C. bistorta, C. cheiranthifolia, C. confusa, C. guadalupensis, C. hardhamiae, C. hirtella, C. ignota, C. lewisii, C. luciae, C. micrantha, C. pallida, C. robusta
Synonyms Oenothera bistorta, Camissonia bistorta, O. bistorta var. veitchiana, Sphaerostigma bistortum, S. bistortum var. veitchianum, S. veitchianum Camissonia intermedia
Name authority (Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 204. (2007) (P. H. Raven) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 205. (2007)
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