Frasera speciosa
Frasera coloradensis
deer's-ears, elkweed, frasera, giant frasera, monument plant
Colorado frasera
1.
1–several.
blades not white-margined;
basal spatulate or oblanceolate to elliptic-obovate, 7–50 × 1–15 cm, apex rounded to acute;
cauline leaves whorled, blade oblong-lanceolate.
blades narrowly white-margined;
basal narrowly oblanceolate, 4–17 × 0.4–2 cm;
cauline leaves opposite, distal blades linear-oblanceolate.
elongate, open proximally, ± dense distally.
diffuse, 5–30 cm wide, branching near base of main stems.
calyx 10–25 mm;
corolla pale yellowish green, purple-dotted, occasionally suffused with purple distally, 12–25 mm, lobes elliptic-oblong to obovate, apex [obtuse or] acute to short-acuminate;
androecial corona scales 7–9 mm, deeply multicleft;
style slender, distinct;
nectaries and foveae 2 per corolla lobe, foveae narrowly elliptic, opening directly adaxial to nectary, each opening with a ± even fringe all around, the pair opening into a green but not rimmed area on the corolla surface.
calyx 7–13 mm;
corolla white to cream, usually rather sparsely purple-dotted, 7–10 mm, lobes oblong-obovate, apex abruptly acuminate;
androecial corona poorly developed, usually comprising erose scales 0.2–1 mm and few trichomes;
style slender, distinct;
nectaries and foveae 1 per corolla lobe, foveae opening distal to nectary, into an orbiculate to elliptic-oblong differentiated area on the corolla lobe, rim ± fringed all around.
= 78.
Frasera speciosa
Frasera coloradensis
Swertia radiata var. maderensis Henrickson, endemic to Mexico, is conspecific with Frasera speciosa, but the necessary combination in Frasera has not been published. If that is done, our material will become var. speciosa.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Frasera coloradensis is endemic to Baca, Bent, Las Animas, and Prowers counties in southeastern Colorado and Cherokee County in adjacent Oklahoma.
To a greater degree than other Frasera species, F. coloradensis forms relatively large clusters of divergent rather than erect stems. Otherwise, it is somewhat similar to F. puberulenta, from which it is separated by about 1500 km. Frasera coloradensis has corymboid inflorescences, about as wide as long, with branches or pedicels arising in pairs at each node of the main axis, and many long leaves in the inflorescences; F. puberulenta has more elongate inflorescences, usually with branches and/or pedicels arising in whorls from some nodes of the main axis, and few if any large leaves in the inflorescences. In F. puberulenta the nectary is more deeply pocketed. Frasera coloradensis is also somewhat similar to F. albomarginata var. induta. It differs in its opposite rather than proximally whorled leaves, its larger leaves within the inflorescence, and the highly dissimilar shape of the differentiated areas on the corolla lobes.
Frasera coloradensis is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
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WildflowerSearch
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