FNA: Corispermum pacificum vs. Corispermum nitidum

	Corispermum pacificum	Corispermum nitidum
	common bugseed, Pacific bug-seed	shiny bugseed, slender bugseed
Habit	Plants usually branched from base, (5–)15–40 cm, glabrous or sparsely covered with dendroid hairs (especially when young).	Plants branched from base (rarely slightly above base), 10–55(–70) cm, glabrous or sparsely covered with dendroid or stellate hairs (then often becoming glabrous).
Leaf	blades narrowly lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or linear, flat or nearly so, 2–5(–7) × 0.2–0.6 cm.	blades narrowly linear or filiform (rarely linear), usually convolute or folded (especially in mature and/or dry plants), rarely plane (when young), 2–4(–5) × 0.1–0.2 cm.
Bracts	ovate-lanceolate, narrowly ovate-lanceolate, almost ovate, or lanceolate, (1–)1.5–2.5 × 0.3–0.7(–0.9) cm.	narrowly ovate-lanceolate, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or linear, 0.5–1.5(–2) × 0.1–0.3(–0.4) cm, (most bracts within inflorescence rather uniform, usually narrower than mature fruits).
Inflorescences	usually compact, rather dense, or sometimes ± lax, condensed only near apex, ovoid, oblong-ovate, obovate, broadly linear, or occasionally clavate.	lax, usually interrupted from base to apex, rarely slightly condensed (only at apex when immature), narrowly linear or linear.
Perianth	segment 1, sometimes absent in distal flowers.	segments 1–3.
Fruits	usually black (rarely deep olive green, especially when immature), sharply contrasting with greenish semitransparent wings, without spots and warts, slightly convex abaxially, flat or slightly concave adaxially, orbiculate-obovate to almost orbiculate, broadest near middle (or occasionally slightly beyond), 3–4 × 2.7–3.8 mm, shiny; wing translucent, thin, (0.2–)0.3–0.6 mm wide, margins slightly undulate or indistinctly erose-denticulate, apex rounded or occasionally indistinctly notched.	straw colored (yellowish brown), light brown, deep olive green, occasionally tinged with red, without spots and warts, convex abaxially, plane or slightly concave adaxially, obovate or broadly elliptic, often broadest near middle (rarely slightly above), 2.3–3.3(–3.5) × (1.8–)2–2.8 mm, shiny; wing translucent, thin, usually 0.1–0.3 mm wide, margins entire, apex rounded.

	Corispermum pacificum	Corispermum nitidum
Phenology	Flowering late summer–fall.	Flowering late summer–early fall.
Habitat	Sandy shores, dunes	Sand dunes, sandy and gravely shores, waste places
Elevation	0-500 m (0-1600 ft)
Distribution	ID; OR; WA [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	se Europe (with small extension into w Asia) [Supposedly introduced]
Discussion	Of conservation concern. Corispermum pacificum seems to be closely related to Siberian C. crassifolium Turczaninov and C. maynense Ignatov. The latter species occurs in the northeastern Russian Far East and may be expected to occur in Alaska. Corispermum pacificum differs from C. maynense by its usually more robust habit, and its wing rounded (rarely rounded-truncate or indistinctly emarginate, but not triangular) at apex. From C. crassifolium it may be distinguished by the constant presence of perianth segments, and more flattened black mature fruits. Corispermum pacificum probably also occurs in adjacent regions of British Columbia. Corispermum pacificum is placed in subsect. Crassifolia (S. L. Mosyakin 1997). This subsection seems to be of Siberian origin, with its central species, C. crassifolium, being closest to the hypothetic ancestral taxon. The presence of perianth segments in C. pacificum may be explained by ancient hybridization with representatives of subsect. Pallasiana. Reproductive isolation between the sympatric species of Corispermum may be achieved by different flowering periods. Occasional hybrids between C. pacificum and C. villosum are similar in their habit to C. pacificum in having usually broad leaves and rather dense inflorescences but they have mostly aborted fruits suggesting that C. pacificum and C. villosum are taxonomically distant species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)	Specimens of Corispermum nitidum superficially similar to, or almost indistinguishable from, European C. nitidum in their habit (especially when immature) are fairly common in North American collections. Judging from their fruit morphology, they mostly belong to C. americanum (or probably to introgressive hybrids between the introduced C. nitidum and native C. americanum). I have not seen any unquestionably reliable specimens of C. nitidum sensu stricto from North America. More detailed comparative experimental and field studies are needed in order to clarify the complicated taxonomy of the group in North America. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source	FNA vol. 4, p. 319.	FNA vol. 4, p. 320.
Parent taxa	Chenopodiaceae > Corispermum	Chenopodiaceae > Corispermum
Sibling taxa	C. americanum, C. hookeri, C. hyssopifolium, C. navicula, C. nitidum, C. ochotense, C. pallasii, C. pallidum, C. villosum, C. welshii	C. americanum, C. hookeri, C. hyssopifolium, C. navicula, C. ochotense, C. pacificum, C. pallasii, C. pallidum, C. villosum, C. welshii
Name authority	Mosyakin: Novon 5: 345, fig. 1A. (1995)	Kitaibel ex Schultes: Oestr. Fl. ed. 2, 1: 7. (1814)
Web links	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Corispermum nitidum

common bugseed, Pacific bug-seed

shiny bugseed, slender bugseed

Habit

Plants usually branched from base, (5–)15–40 cm, glabrous or sparsely covered with dendroid hairs (especially when young).

Plants branched from base (rarely slightly above base), 10–55(–70) cm, glabrous or sparsely covered with dendroid or stellate hairs (then often becoming glabrous).

Leaf

blades narrowly lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or linear, flat or nearly so, 2–5(–7) × 0.2–0.6 cm.

blades narrowly linear or filiform (rarely linear), usually convolute or folded (especially in mature and/or dry plants), rarely plane (when young), 2–4(–5) × 0.1–0.2 cm.

Bracts

ovate-lanceolate, narrowly ovate-lanceolate, almost ovate, or lanceolate, (1–)1.5–2.5 × 0.3–0.7(–0.9) cm.

narrowly ovate-lanceolate, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or linear, 0.5–1.5(–2) × 0.1–0.3(–0.4) cm, (most bracts within inflorescence rather uniform, usually narrower than mature fruits).

Inflorescences

usually compact, rather dense, or sometimes ± lax, condensed only near apex, ovoid, oblong-ovate, obovate, broadly linear, or occasionally clavate.

lax, usually interrupted from base to apex, rarely slightly condensed (only at apex when immature), narrowly linear or linear.

Perianth

segment 1, sometimes absent in distal flowers.

segments 1–3.

Fruits

usually black (rarely deep olive green, especially when immature), sharply contrasting with greenish semitransparent wings, without spots and warts, slightly convex abaxially, flat or slightly concave adaxially, orbiculate-obovate to almost orbiculate, broadest near middle (or occasionally slightly beyond), 3–4 × 2.7–3.8 mm, shiny;

wing translucent, thin, (0.2–)0.3–0.6 mm wide, margins slightly undulate or indistinctly erose-denticulate, apex rounded or occasionally indistinctly notched.

straw colored (yellowish brown), light brown, deep olive green, occasionally tinged with red, without spots and warts, convex abaxially, plane or slightly concave adaxially, obovate or broadly elliptic, often broadest near middle (rarely slightly above), 2.3–3.3(–3.5) × (1.8–)2–2.8 mm, shiny;

wing translucent, thin, usually 0.1–0.3 mm wide, margins entire, apex rounded.

Corispermum pacificum

Corispermum nitidum

Phenology

Flowering late summer–fall.

Flowering late summer–early fall.

Habitat

Sandy shores, dunes

Sand dunes, sandy and gravely shores, waste places

Elevation

0-500 m (0-1600 ft)

Distribution

ID; OR; WA

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

se Europe (with small extension into w Asia) [Supposedly introduced]

Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Corispermum pacificum seems to be closely related to Siberian C. crassifolium Turczaninov and C. maynense Ignatov. The latter species occurs in the northeastern Russian Far East and may be expected to occur in Alaska. Corispermum pacificum differs from C. maynense by its usually more robust habit, and its wing rounded (rarely rounded-truncate or indistinctly emarginate, but not triangular) at apex. From C. crassifolium it may be distinguished by the constant presence of perianth segments, and more flattened black mature fruits. Corispermum pacificum probably also occurs in adjacent regions of British Columbia. Corispermum pacificum is placed in subsect. Crassifolia (S. L. Mosyakin 1997). This subsection seems to be of Siberian origin, with its central species, C. crassifolium, being closest to the hypothetic ancestral taxon. The presence of perianth segments in C. pacificum may be explained by ancient hybridization with representatives of subsect. Pallasiana.

Reproductive isolation between the sympatric species of Corispermum may be achieved by different flowering periods. Occasional hybrids between C. pacificum and C. villosum are similar in their habit to C. pacificum in having usually broad leaves and rather dense inflorescences but they have mostly aborted fruits suggesting that C. pacificum and C. villosum are taxonomically distant species.

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

Specimens of Corispermum nitidum superficially similar to, or almost indistinguishable from, European C. nitidum in their habit (especially when immature) are fairly common in North American collections. Judging from their fruit morphology, they mostly belong to C. americanum (or probably to introgressive hybrids between the introduced C. nitidum and native C. americanum). I have not seen any unquestionably reliable specimens of C. nitidum sensu stricto from North America. More detailed comparative experimental and field studies are needed in order to clarify the complicated taxonomy of the group in North America.

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

Source

FNA vol. 4, p. 319.

FNA vol. 4, p. 320.

Parent taxa

Chenopodiaceae > Corispermum

Sibling taxa

C. americanum, C. hookeri, C. hyssopifolium, C. navicula, C. nitidum, C. ochotense, C. pallasii, C. pallidum, C. villosum, C. welshii

C. americanum, C. hookeri, C. hyssopifolium, C. navicula, C. ochotense, C. pacificum, C. pallasii, C. pallidum, C. villosum, C. welshii

Name authority

Mosyakin: Novon 5: 345, fig. 1A. (1995)

Kitaibel ex Schultes: Oestr. Fl. ed. 2, 1: 7. (1814)

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).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

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Corispermum pacificum

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Corispermum pacificum

Corispermum nitidum