Flora of North America species comparison

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Cochlearia

scurvy-grass, spoonwort
Habit Annuals, biennials, or, rarely, perennials; not scapose.
Stems

erect or decumbent, unbranched or branched.
Leaves

basal and cauline;

petiolate or sessile;

basal rosulate or not, petiolate, blade margins usually entire, repand, or dentate, rarely sinuate-dentate;

cauline petiolate or sessile, blade (base auriculate or not), margins entire, repand, or dentate.
Racemes

(corymbose), slightly to greatly elongated in fruit.
Flowers

sepals ovate or oblong;

petals oblanceolate or spatulate, [oblong, lingulate, elliptic], claw not differentiated from blade;

stamens subequal or slightly tetradynamous;

filaments not dilated basally;

anthers ovate;

nectar glands lateral, 1 on each side lateral stamens.
Fruiting pedicels

erect, divaricate, or ascending, slender.
Fruits

sessile, ovoid, ellipsoid, obovoid, orbicular, ovoid-orbicular, or elliptic to oblong, [sub]terete or angustiseptate;

valves each with distinct midvein (sometimes inflated);

replum rounded;

septum complete, fenestrate, or absent;

ovules [5–]8–14[–32] per ovary;

stigma capitate.
Seeds

plump, not winged, ovoid-oblong or ovoid to subglobose [ellipsoid];

seed coat (smooth or papillose), not mucilaginous when wetted;

cotyledons accumbent, rarely incumbent.
x

= 6, 7.

Cochlearia
Distribution
from USDA
North America; Europe; Asia; nw Africa
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 21 (3 in the flora).

Molecular data (M. Koch et al. 1999) provide some evidence that Ionopsidium Reichenbach could be integrated into Cochlearia as a section, consisting of at least five species in Eurasia.

Molecular studies (M. Koch 2002; Koch et al. 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003) as well as cytological ones (D. M. Pegtel 1999, and references therein) have demonstrated that in Cochlearia hybridization and polyploidization have created in Europe extensive complexes based on x = 6; the circumpolar and subarctic taxa form different complexes based on x = 7. It appears that all North American taxa belong to the latter group. The North American taxa have not been studied as comprehensively as the European ones.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Annuals; fruits oblong or elliptic, 8-12 mm; stems simple from base; cauline leaves sessile, blade margins entire, rarely repand.
C. sessilifolia
1. Biennials or perennials; fruits ovoid, obovoid, orbicular, or ellipsoid, rarely to 9 mm; stems usually few to several from base; (proximal) cauline leaves petiolate, blade margins dentate, repand, or entire
→ 2
2. Fruits obovoid, ovoid, or ellipsoid, terete or slightly angustiseptate, valves usually not or obscurely reticulate, rarely distinctly so; proximal and median cauline blades: margins entire, repand, or slightly dentate.
C. groenlandica
2. Fruits orbicular or ovoid-orbicular, distinctly angustiseptate, valves prominently reticulate; proximal and median cauline blades: margins dentate.
C. tridactylites
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 514. Authors: Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz, Marcus Koch.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Cochlearieae
Subordinate taxa
C. groenlandica, C. sessilifolia, C. tridactylites
Synonyms Cochleariopsis, Glaucocochlearia
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 647. (1753)
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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