Douglasia nivalis |
Douglasia montana |
|
---|---|---|
snow douglasia, snow dwarf-primrose |
Rocky Mountain dwarf-primrose |
|
Habit | Plants loosely cespitose mats with branched caudex. | Plants loosely cespitose cushions with branched caudex. |
Stems | prostrate to ascending, loosely covered with marcescent, gray to light brown leaves (becoming remote in age). |
prostrate to ascending with marcescent, imbricate, gray to light brown leaves. |
Leaves | spreading, slightly reflexed in age, thin; blade linear to oblanceolate, 5–2 × 1.5–4 mm, margins entire or distinctly toothed, apex obtuse, surfaces densely hairy, hairs minute, branched and stellate. |
spreading to erect, thin; blade linear-subulate, 4–10 × 0.5 mm, margins entire, ciliolate, hairs simple, apex acute, surfaces glabrous. |
Scapes | 10–70 mm, elongating little in fruit, densely stellate-pubescent. |
5–20 mm, elongating little in fruit, densely hairy, hairs branched and stellate. |
Inflorescences | 2–8-flowered, bracteate; bracts 4–10, lanceolate to ovate, 3–8 × 2–3 mm, stellate-pubescent. |
1–2-flowered, ebracteate or bracteate; bracts 1–3, subulate, 2–3 × 0.5 mm, hairy, hairs simple or forked. |
Pedicels | present, 1–10(–20) mm. |
present, 0.5–10 mm. |
Flowers | calyx 4–7 × 3–5 mm, stellate-pubescent to glabrate; corolla rose-pink, limb 8–12 mm diam., lobes 3–5 × 1–2 mm, margins erose or entire. |
calyx 4–8 × 3–5 mm, glabrous or slightly hairy, hairs branched and stellate; corolla rose-pink, limb 6–10 mm diam., lobes 3–5 × 1–2 mm, margins erose or entire. |
Douglasia nivalis |
Douglasia montana |
|
Phenology | Flowering early-mid summer. | Flowering early-mid summer. |
Habitat | Sagebrush slopes, alpine ridges, talus | Foothills, open ridges, scree slopes |
Elevation | 700-2400 m (2300-7900 ft) | 1000-3500 m (3300-11500 ft) |
Distribution |
WA |
ID; MT; WY; AB
|
Discussion | Previous treatments of Douglasia nivalis have recognized two varieties that differ in the degree of dentation on leaf margins. The most common is var. nivalis, with almost entire leaf blade margins, found in the Wenatchee Mountains and north to Chelan and Douglas counties. Variety dentata has more distinctly toothed leaves and is known only from the Wenatchee Mountains. Because there is a great deal of overlapping variation, particularly in the Wenatchee Mountains, those varieties are not given formal recognition here. Presence of Douglasia nivalis in Canada is uncertain. The original collection was described by Lindley as collected on the Alberta–British Columbia border near Mount Robson; no other collections of the species from either province are known. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Specimens of Douglasia montana from Wyoming tend to have two flowers per inflorescence (once recognized as var. biflora); those from the northern part of the range tend to have only one. Because both one- and two-flowered inflorescences occur together on individual plants throughout the range, and no other morphological differences separate the forms, the varietal distinction is not recognized here. In Alberta, Douglasia montana is known only from Waterton Lakes National Park near the Montana border. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 267. | FNA vol. 8, p. 266. |
Parent taxa | Primulaceae > Douglasia | Primulaceae > Douglasia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | D. dentata, D. nivalis var. dentata, Primula douglasii | D. biflora, D. montana var. biflora |
Name authority | Lindley: Quart. J. Sci. Lit. Arts [ 24]: 383. 1827 , | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 371. 1868 , |
Web links |