FNA: Corispermum welshii vs. Corispermum pacificum

	Corispermum welshii	Corispermum pacificum
	Welsh's bugseed	common bugseed, Pacific bug-seed
Habit		Plants usually branched from base, (5–)15–40 cm, glabrous or sparsely covered with dendroid hairs (especially when young).
Leaf	blades linear-lanceolate or linear, usually plane (or rarely slightly convolute or folded in dried plants), 1–6 × 0.2–0.5 cm.	blades narrowly lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or linear, flat or nearly so, 2–5(–7) × 0.2–0.6 cm.
Bracts	ovate or ovate-lanceolate (rarely narrowly ovate-lanceolate), 1–3 × 0.3–0.8 cm.	ovate-lanceolate, narrowly ovate-lanceolate, almost ovate, or lanceolate, (1–)1.5–2.5 × 0.3–0.7(–0.9) cm.
Inflorescences	usually compact and dense, rarely ± lax, and condensed only at apex, ovoid, oblong-obovate, or oblong-clavate.	usually compact, rather dense, or sometimes ± lax, condensed only near apex, ovoid, oblong-ovate, obovate, broadly linear, or occasionally clavate.
Perianth	segment 1.	segment 1, sometimes absent in distal flowers.
Fruits	yellowish brown, light brown, or brown, usually with reddish brown spots and whitish warts, strongly to slightly convex abaxially, usually concave adaxially, obovate or orbiculate-obovate, usually broadest slightly beyond middle (occasionally almost near middle), (3.3–)3.7–4.6 × (2.7–)3–3.6 mm, slightly shiny or dull; wing translucent, thin, (rarely translucent only at margin, thicker), (0.3–)0.4–0.6 mm wide, margins entire or irregularly minutely erose-denticulate, apex rounded, truncate, or indistinctly emarginate.	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.
Plant	branched from base or nearly so, 10–35 cm, densely or sparsely covered with dendroid or stellate hairs (rarely with scattered papillae at margins of bracts).

	Corispermum welshii	Corispermum pacificum
Phenology	Flowering late summer–fall.	Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat	Sand dunes, sandy shores of creeks and rivers, dry valleys	Sandy shores, dunes
Elevation	1300-2200 m (4300-7200 ft)	0-500 m (0-1600 ft)
Distribution	AZ; NM; UT; WY [BONAP county map]	ID; OR; WA [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	The names Corispermum hyssopifolium and C. villosum have been misapplied to C. welshii. Judging from its fruit morphology, C. welshii is closely related to C. americanum, especially to var. rydbergii. Forms intermediate between these taxa occasionally occur, especially in Utah. However, C. welshii differs from C. americanum in having shorter and thicker inflorescences and broader leaves and bracts. Forms similar to C. welshii occur also in other southwestern states, particularly in Colorado and western Texas. These plants are in need of additional study. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)	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.)
Source	FNA vol. 4, p. 317.	FNA vol. 4, p. 319.
Parent taxa	Chenopodiaceae > Corispermum	Chenopodiaceae > Corispermum
Sibling taxa	C. americanum, C. hookeri, C. hyssopifolium, C. navicula, C. nitidum, C. ochotense, C. pacificum, C. pallasii, C. pallidum, C. villosum	C. americanum, C. hookeri, C. hyssopifolium, C. navicula, C. nitidum, C. ochotense, C. pallasii, C. pallidum, C. villosum, C. welshii
Name authority	Mosyakin: Novon 5: 348, fig. 1E. (1995)	Mosyakin: Novon 5: 345, fig. 1A. (1995)
Web links	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	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

Corispermum pacificum

Welsh's bugseed

common bugseed, Pacific bug-seed

Habit

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

Leaf

blades linear-lanceolate or linear, usually plane (or rarely slightly convolute or folded in dried plants), 1–6 × 0.2–0.5 cm.

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

Bracts

ovate or ovate-lanceolate (rarely narrowly ovate-lanceolate), 1–3 × 0.3–0.8 cm.

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

Inflorescences

usually compact and dense, rarely ± lax, and condensed only at apex, ovoid, oblong-obovate, or oblong-clavate.

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

Perianth

segment 1.

segment 1, sometimes absent in distal flowers.

Fruits

yellowish brown, light brown, or brown, usually with reddish brown spots and whitish warts, strongly to slightly convex abaxially, usually concave adaxially, obovate or orbiculate-obovate, usually broadest slightly beyond middle (occasionally almost near middle), (3.3–)3.7–4.6 × (2.7–)3–3.6 mm, slightly shiny or dull;

wing translucent, thin, (rarely translucent only at margin, thicker), (0.3–)0.4–0.6 mm wide, margins entire or irregularly minutely erose-denticulate, apex rounded, truncate, or indistinctly emarginate.

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.

Plant

branched from base or nearly so, 10–35 cm, densely or sparsely covered with dendroid or stellate hairs (rarely with scattered papillae at margins of bracts).

Corispermum welshii

Corispermum pacificum

Phenology

Flowering late summer–fall.

Habitat

Sand dunes, sandy shores of creeks and rivers, dry valleys

Sandy shores, dunes

Elevation

1300-2200 m (4300-7200 ft)

0-500 m (0-1600 ft)

Distribution

AZ; NM; UT; WY

[BONAP county map]

ID; OR; WA

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

The names Corispermum hyssopifolium and C. villosum have been misapplied to C. welshii. Judging from its fruit morphology, C. welshii is closely related to C. americanum, especially to var. rydbergii. Forms intermediate between these taxa occasionally occur, especially in Utah. However, C. welshii differs from C. americanum in having shorter and thicker inflorescences and broader leaves and bracts. Forms similar to C. welshii occur also in other southwestern states, particularly in Colorado and western Texas. These plants are in need of additional study.

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

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.)

Source

FNA vol. 4, p. 317.

FNA vol. 4, p. 319.

Parent taxa

Chenopodiaceae > Corispermum

Sibling taxa

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

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

Name authority

Mosyakin: Novon 5: 348, fig. 1E. (1995)

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

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 welshii

Corispermum pacificum

Corispermum welshii

Corispermum pacificum