Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Collinsia heterophylla

Chinese houses, innocence, purple Chinese-houses
Habit Annuals 10–50 cm.
Stems

erect to ascending.
Leaf

blades lanceolate-deltate, margins serrate.
Inflorescences

glabrous or hairy, ± glandular;

whorls 2–7 on main axis;

nodes 2–7-flowered;

flowers crowded;

distalmost bracts linear to lanceolate, 5–6 mm.
Pedicels

ascending to spreading, shorter than calyx, not or scarcely visible.
Flowers

calyx lobes linear to ovate, equal to capsule, apex subacute to acute;

corolla red-purple, rarely white, banner white to lavender or tipped dark violet, maroon spots near center and forming horizontal lines near base, wings whitish to rose purple, keel usually with darker red tip, 10–20 mm, usually glabrous;

tube hairy inside, as wide as long, saccate basally, adaxial pouch prominent and ± square;

banner length 0.6–0.9 times wings, lobe base without folds;

stamens: abaxial filaments glabrous, adaxials hairy, basal spur 1.
Seeds

6–12, ovate, 1.5–2 mm, margins slightly thickened, inrolled.
2n

= 14.

Collinsia heterophylla
Distribution
from FNA
CA; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Collinsia heterophylla is the most widespread and frequently encountered species in California. There is structure in phylogenetic analysis of northern and southern populations (that is, paraphyly of southern populations) suggesting northward expansion and evidence for introgression with C. tinctoria (B. G. Baldwin et al. 2011) in the southern Sierra Nevada (Kern County and possibly Fresno County). This species is often confused with other collinsias that have tiered whorls of flowers, most frequently with C. bartsiifolia and C. concolor, which both lack the bold horizontal line present at the base of the adaxial corolla lip of C. heterophylla. Plants with reduced corolla pigmentation, nearly white, are uncommon outside of the South Coast Ranges and are often misidentified as C. bartsiifolia.

Collinsia bicolor Bentham, which pertains here, is a later homonym of C. bicolor Rafinesque, a synonym of 1. C. verna.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Corollas (13–)15–20 mm; leaf blade abaxial surfaces glabrous, midveins rarely hairy; banner lengths 0.8–0.9 times wings, reflexed portions 4+ times basal portions.
var. heterophylla
1. Corollas 10–15(–18) mm; leaf blade abaxial surfaces sparsely hairy; banner lengths 0.6–0.8 times wings, reflexed portions 2–3 times basal portions.
var. austromontana
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 73.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae > Collinsia
Sibling taxa
C. antonina, C. bartsiifolia, C. callosa, C. childii, C. concolor, C. corymbosa, C. grandiflora, C. greenei, C. latifolia, C. linearis, C. multicolor, C. parryi, C. parviflora, C. rattanii, C. sparsiflora, C. tinctoria, C. torreyi, C. verna, C. violacea, C. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
C. heterophylla var. austromontana, C. heterophylla var. heterophylla
Name authority Graham: Bot. Mag. 65: plate 3695. (1838)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers