Froelichia floridana
Froelichia texana
field snakecotton, Florida Snake-cotton, plains Snake-cotton
Texas Snake-cotton
1, erect or ascending, sometimes procumbent, simple or sparsely branched (rarely much-branched) from base or above, stout, to 18 dm, puberulent or tomentulose with short, viscid, whitish or brownish hairs.
1–several, ascending or decumbent, simple or branched, 3–10 dm, thinly grayish white-tomentose.
principally on proximal 1/3 of plant, petiolate;
blade lanceolate to oblanceolate, oblong, or linear, largest leaves 3.8–11.2(–21) × 0.5–3.8(–4.2) cm, base attenuate to cuneate, apex acute to obtuse, canescent to subscabrous adaxially, sericeous-tomentose abaxially.
sessile or short-petiolate;
blade ovate-orbiculate or short-lanceolate, proximal leaves 2.5–3.5–12 × 1–4.8 cm, base attenuate to rounded or obtuse, apex obtuse to acute, floccose-tomentose with grayish white hairs abaxially, sparsely canescent adaxially.
dense, much-branched, apex often pyramidal, flowers arranged in 5-ranked spiral;
bracteoles stramineous or blackish, pubescent with small tufts distally.
lax, flowers arranged in 5-ranked spiral;
bracteoles stramineous or light brown, glabrous.
4–6 mm;
perianth lobes, greenish white to pinkish, oblong, apex acute;
filament lobes slightly to greatly recurved distally, stramineous to pinkish, apex acute.
3–4.6 mm;
tepals narrowly oblong, apex obtuse or acutish, pubescence of mature flowers sparse, dull;
pseudostaminodes darkened, apex blunt.
flask-shaped, 5 × 4–5 mm, with irregularly dentate lateral wings, both surfaces of perianth with distinct spines or tubercles.
perianth broadly winged laterally, 3.2–4.6 × 3–4.2 mm, nearly as broad as long, wing margins entire or crenulate, face of perianth with or without 1 basal tubercle or spine.
= 58 + 2.
Froelichia floridana
Froelichia texana
Froelichia floridana ranges from broad-leaved stout herbs surpassing 1 meter in height to much-branched plants forming bushes to 2 meters in diameter and single-stemmed, erect herbs 1 dm in height. Much of the variation in the species has been difficult to ascribe to either geographic or ecologic differences and reflects inherent genetic variability and wide environmentally induced plasticity. Although specialists and taxonomists have implied the existence of well-delineated morphologic taxa with a strong geographic correspondence, this is not always true, and, in fact, one encounters typical specimens of any given variety sporadically throughout the range of the species.
Some variability in Froelichia floridana is clearly attributable to geography, principally in terms of general morphologic trends. There is a cline toward long, narrow, almost linear leaves as one moves east along the Gulf Coast and into Florida. This would culminate in the little-known var. pallescens Moquin-Tandon, a linear-leaved form (leaf length more than eight times width) from peninsular Florida. Additional variation ascribable to geography is observed in plants traditionally included in F. drummondii, these being large, stout plants with broader leaves, more obtuse leaf apices, and more densely fulvous pubescence on the abaxial surfaces of leaves. Plants of this form are generally restricted south of the Brazos River and continue to the southern extent of the range in Kenedy County, Texas. Further work examining this variation using micromorphology or molecular markers may elucidate a reliable means to identify intraspecific taxa within F. floridana.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Froelichia texana has been a relatively obscure taxon and has either been included within a broadly defined F. floridana or within F. interrupta (Linnaeus) Moquin-Tandon, a wide-ranging and morphologically variable species extending from northern Mexico to Peru. Similarities in overall growth form and the lack of divisions on the lateral wings of the mature perianth led to the long inclusion of this species within F. interrupta, although more detailed analysis points to a closer phylogenetic relationship between F. texana and F. floridana.
Froelichia interrupta has been reported to occur within the range of the flora; however, most of those records are, in fact, F. texana or misidentified F. arizonica. While I have seen no records definitively placing F. interrupta in the flora, I suspect it could occur as I have observed F. interrupta growing at higher elevations in northern Sonora. A suspected specimen of F. interrupta would key to F. texana, but differ by having a 3-ranked inflorescence and the fruiting perianth would always lack a basal tubercle or spine.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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