Garrya lindheimeri
Garrya flavescens
Lindheimer's silktassel
ashy 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 whitish abaxially (because of white epidermis), yellow-green to gray-green adaxially, flat to concave-convex, elliptic to obovate-elliptic to oval, (2–)3–8 × 1–4.5 cm, length 1.3–3.3 times width, margins flat to undulate, smooth, apex obtuse to rounded, abaxial surface sparsely to densely strigose-sericeous, hairs antrorsely appressed, adaxial surface dull, sparsely strigose to glabrate.
5–10 mm diam., glabrous, usually glaucous.
5–8 mm diam., densely strigose-sericeous, sometimes glabrate toward base, 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 3–8 cm; pistillate compact, internodes to 1 mm, unbranched, pendulous, 2–5 cm; pistillate bracts connate proximally into deep cup, at least at proximal nodes each subtending 3 flowers, broadly ovate-deltate with acuminate-recurved apices, differing in size and shape from leaves, densely strigose-sericeous.
= 22.
Garrya lindheimeri
Garrya flavescens
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.)
The white abaxial leaf epidermis is distinctive of Garrya flavescens. Hairs on the abaxial leaf surfaces vary in length and density but all are relatively straight and parallel. Plants with slightly wavy hairs, said to be diagnostic for G. congdonii, occur in the western portion of the range (most often on serpentine but not restricted to it); intergrades are numerous and recognition of G. congdonii even at varietal rank appears to be subjective. Subspecies congdonii and subsp. pallida (the types of both taxa from California) together as a single evolutionary unit might be treated at subspecific rank and distinct from subsp. flavescens (the type from Arizona), but intergrades make even this difficult.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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