Erysimum perenne |
Erysimum |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
sand dune wallflower, Sierra wallflower |
wallflower |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habit | Perennials or, rarely, biennials; (caudex slender). | Plants not scapose; pubescent, trichomes sessile, medifixed, appressed, 2-rayed (malpighiaceous) or 3–5(–8)-rayed (stellate), rays (when 2) parallel to long axis of stems, leaves, sepals, and fruits. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched (few to several) basally, 0.4–6.5 dm. |
erect or ascending [decumbent], unbranched or branched basally and/or distally. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leaves | basal and cauline; petiolate or sessile; basal rosulate or not, petiolate, blade margins usually entire, dentate, sinuate-dentate, or denticulate, rarely pinnatifid or pinnatisect; cauline petiolate or sessile, blade (base cuneate or attenuate [auriculate]), margins entire, dentate, denticulate, dentate-sinuate, or repand. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Basal leaves | blade spatulate to broadly oblanceolate, 2.5–7 cm × 3–10 mm, base attenuate, margins dentate or subentire, apex often obtuse, (surfaces pubescent adaxially, trichomes 2 or 3–5-rayed). |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cauline leaves | (distal) sessile; blade margins often entire. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Racemes | considerably elongated in fruit. |
(densely flowered, E. pallasii bracteate basally). |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Flowers | sepals linear-oblong to oblong, 8–12 mm, lateral pair saccate basally; petals yellow, broadly obovate to suborbicular, 15–22 × 3.5–6 mm, claw 8–14 mm, apex rounded; median filaments 7–14 mm; anthers linear, 3–4 mm. |
sepals oblong or linear, lateral pair saccate or not basally (pubescent); petals suborbicular, obovate, or spatulate, claw differentiated from blade (subequaling or longer than sepals, apex rounded [emarginate]); stamens (erect), tetradynamous; filaments not dilated basally; anthers oblong or linear; nectar glands (1, 2, or 4), distinct or confluent, subtending bases of stamens, median glands present or absent. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fruiting pedicels | divaricate-ascending, slender, narrower than fruit, 4–12 mm. |
erect, ascending, divaricate, reflexed, horizontal, or spreading, slender or stout (nearly as wide as fruit). |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fruits | erect to ascending, narrowly linear, straight, torulose, 3.8–14 cm × 1.2–3 mm, latiseptate, not striped; valves with prominent midvein, pubescent outside, trichomes 2 or 3 (or 4)-rayed, glabrous inside; ovules 26–44 per ovary; style cylindrical, slender, (1.5–)2–5.5 mm, sparsely pubescent; stigma subentire to slightly 2-lobed, lobes as long as wide. |
usually sessile, rarely shortly stipitate (gynophore to 4 mm), usually linear or narrowly so [oblong], smooth or torulose, (keeled or not); valves each with obscure to prominent midvein, pubescent outside, usually glabrous inside; replum rounded; septum complete, (not veined); ovules [15–]20–120 per ovary; (style relatively short, rarely 1/2 as long as or subequaling fruit, often pubescent); stigma capitate. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeds | ovoid, 2–3.4 × 1–2 mm; not winged or, rarely, winged distally. |
plump or flattened, winged, margined, or not winged, oblong, ovoid, obovate, or suborbicular; seed coat (minutely reticulate), mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons incumbent, rarely accumbent. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Trichomes | of leaves 2–5-rayed. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
x | = (6) 7, 8 (9–17). |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2n | = 36. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Erysimum perenne |
Erysimum |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Alpine fellfields, decomposing marble, gravelly ground and knolls, rocky slopes, talus, granitic sand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 2000-4000 m (6600-13100 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
|
North America; n Mexico; Central America; Europe; Asia; n Africa; Atlantic Islands (Macaronesia) [Introduced in South America, Australia] |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discussion | Erysimum perenne is a high alpine species of the western sierras in California from Fresno, Inyo, and Madera counties northward into Plumas, Siskiyou, and Trinity counties. Its range in Nevada appears to be restricted to Douglas and Washoe counties. The limits of Erysimum perenne have been controversial, and it is with some hesitation that I recognize it as a species. G. B. Rossbach (1958) accepted it as a distinct species, R. A. Price (1993) transferred it (invalidly) to a subspecies of E. capitatum, R. C. Rollins (1993) treated it as a variety of E. capitatum, and N. H. Holmgren (2005b) treated the name as a synonym of E. capitatum. It is readily distinguished from E. capitatum by having torulose (versus not torulose) and flattened (versus 4-angled or flattened) fruits, slender (versus stout or, rarely, slender) and longer styles (1.5–)2–5.5 mm (versus 0.2–2.5(–3) mm), and yellow (versus orange to, rarely, yellow) petals. Where the two species are allopatric, they remain consistently distinct, but at lower elevations, where their ranges overlap, the distinction becomes blurred. In such areas of overlap, one finds fruit variation ranging from distinctly torulose to non-torulose, as well as continuity in the other characters above. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species ca. 150 (19 in the flora). Erysimum is found in the northern hemisphere, primarily Asia and Europe, with eight species in northern Africa and Macaronesia, and one each endemic to Baja California (E. moranii Rollins) and Costa Rica and Guatemala (E. ghiesbreghtii J. D. Smith). Of the 21 species found in North America, four are naturalized. Most of the native species have x = 9 and are believed to represent a monophyletic group (R. A. Price 1987). Erysimum is a taxonomically difficult genus much in need of comprehensive phylogenetic and systematic studies covering its entire range. The principal sources of difficulty are the inflation in the number of species described, the heavy reliance on vegetative morphological characters in the delimitation of species, and the inadequacy of most herbarium specimens. In order to reliably identify a given sample, one often needs a complete specimen that has basal leaves, flowers, mature fruits, and seeds. Unfortunately, plants of most species shed their basal leaves or have no flowers when at full fruit maturity. Another complicating factor in North America is that almost all of the native species readily hybridize in areas of overlap to produce wide arrays of intermediates that backcross with the parents and blur species boundaries. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 543. | FNA vol. 7, p. 534. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Erysimeae > Erysimum | Brassicaceae > tribe Erysimeae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | E. asperum var. perenne, Cheiranthus perennis, Cheirinia nevadensis, E. capitatum var. perenne, E. nevadense | Cheiranthus, Cheirinia, Cuspidaria, Syrenia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (S. Watson ex Coville) Abrams: in L. Abrams and R. S. Ferris, Ill. Fl. Pacific States 2: 318. (1944) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 660. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 296. (1754) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Web links |