Flora of North America species comparison

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Crotalaria rotundifolia var. linaria
Photo is of parent taxon
Leaves

usually ascending-erect;

blade linear to linear-lanceolate, or obovate-oblanceolate on proximal 1/3 of stem, linear distally, 10–50 × 1–4 mm, length 5–12 times width.
2n

= 32.

Crotalaria rotundifolia var. linaria
Phenology Flowering Dec–May(–Aug).
Habitat Beaches, disturbed sandy sites, pine-palmetto scrub, hammocks, pine woods.
Elevation 0–30 m. (0–100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL
Discussion

D. R. Windler (1974) recognized var. vulgaris, distinguished by spreading hairs on stems, from var. rotundifolia with appressed hairs on stems, but the difference is slight and sometimes subjectively interpreted. In contrast, var. linaria is a much more easily recognized variant, although it has recently been considered part of a polymorphic population system in Florida (Windler; D. Isely 1998).

Plants with all leaf blades linear, proximal to distal, are common on Big Pine Key and in the southern half of peninsular Florida with collections seen from Broward, Citrus, Dade, Hernando, Hillsboro, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota counties. Collections of plants with leaf blades elliptic to obovate on the proximal one-third of the stems, quickly becoming linear distally, are scattered through some of the same counties as well as slightly farther north (for example, Alachua and Lake counties). Typical Crotalaria rotundifolia also occurs in the southern counties (for example, Brevard, Collier, Miami-Dade, Martin, Polk, and Sarasota counties). Plants with linear leaf blades on the distal two-thirds of the stems are sharply restricted to the southern half of Florida and, in view of their striking morphological distinction, it seems useful to formally recognize them. By doing so, it is acknowledged that sympatry of vars. linaria and rotundifolia suggests that some degree of reproductive isolation may exist.

Forms of var. linaria and Crotalaria purshii may be similar in overall appearance (especially on herbarium sheets), but the two are allopatric, and C. purshii has erect to ascending-erect stems, leaves not densely overlapping with mid stem nodes 30–60 mm, and leaflet surfaces glabrous adaxially, compared to C. rotundifolia var. linaria, which usually has prostrate stems, leaves densely overlapping with mid stem nodes 4–15(–25) mm, and leaflet surfaces strigose.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Crotalaria > Crotalaria rotundifolia
Sibling taxa
C. rotundifolia var. rotundifolia
Synonyms C. linaria, C. maritima var. linaria
Name authority (Small) Fernald & B. G. Schubert: Rhodora 50: 203. (1948)
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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