Garrya lindheimeri
Garrya buxifolia
Lindheimer's silktassel
box leaf garrya, boxleaf silk tassel, dwarf silk tassel
blade green, flat, oblong-elliptic to broadly elliptic or obovate, 4.5–8 × 2.5–5 cm, length 2 times width, margins flat, smooth, without callose rim, apex rounded and mucronulate, abaxial surface persistently sparsely to densely puberulent-tomentulose, hairs coiling to recurved, adaxial surface glossy, glabrous or glabrate.
blade green abaxially, bright to olive green adaxially, flat to concave-convex, ovate-elliptic or obovate-elliptic to suborbiculate, 1–5(–6.5) × 0.9–3.3 cm, length 1.3–2.3 times width, margins flat, smooth, apex rounded to obtuse, abaxial surface densely strigose-sericeous, hairs antrorsely appressed, adaxial surface glossy, glabrous.
5–10 mm diam., glabrous, usually glaucous.
4–6 mm diam., glabrous or sparsely strigose near apex, not glaucous.
staminate 2–3 cm;
pistillate loose, internodes 4+ mm, sometimes branched, erect, 2–8 cm;
pistillate bracts distinct or connate basally, each usually subtending 1 flower, elliptic to ovate, at least proximal similar in size and shape to distal leaves, minutely puberulent, hairs tightly coiling to strongly recurved.
staminate 5–7 cm;
pistillate compact, internodes to 1 mm, unbranched, pendulous, 3–9 cm;
pistillate bracts connate proximally into deep cup, at least at proximal nodes each subtending 3 flowers, triangular to oblong-acuminate, differing in size and shape from leaves, strigose-sericeous.
= 22.
Garrya lindheimeri
Garrya buxifolia
Judgments have varied regarding the rank Garrya lindheimeri, as illustrated by the synonymy above. Evidence counter to uniting it with Garrya ovata includes their ecological distinction and allopatry over most of their ranges. Morphological differences between G. lindheimeri and G. ovata are at least comparable to those among some of the California species, which intergrade to a greater extent than these do.
Garrya lindheimeri and G. goldmanii are allopatric in Texas, with the former restricted to the Edwards Plateau and adjacent Lampasas Cut Plain and the latter found only in trans-Pecos Texas. They become sympatric in Coahuila, Mexico, and remain distinct although hybrids and perhaps introgressants may be formed. Garrya goldmanii occurs in more xeric habitats, as indicated by the differences in distribution and ecology in Texas, and the ecological distinction also apparently exists in Coahuila. Their distinction where sympatric implies a degree of reproductive isolation and provides rationale for maintaining both at specific rank.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Garrya buxifolia occurs in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. Its relatively narrow geographical range is essentially parapatric with that of G. flavescens where the two meet in northwestern California. Without observation of the diagnostic fruit vestiture, the green-glossy and completely glabrous adaxial leaf surfaces of G. buxifolia usually distinguish it.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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