Hesperolinon disjunctum
Hesperolinon sharsmithiae
Coast Range dwarf-flax, Coast Range western flax
Sharsmith's western flax, Sharsmith's western or dwarf flax
alternate;
stipular glands minute or absent;
blade linear, 10–20 × 1–2 mm, base flat, not clasping, margins eglandular or minutely gland-toothed.
alternate;
stipular glands present only at proximal nodes;
blade linear, 15–20 × 1–1.5 mm, base flat, not clasping, margins without stalked glands.
cymes usually monochasial (scorpioid), sometimes dichasial, open, internodes long, flowers widely scattered;
bract margins eglandular or minutely gland-toothed.
cymes dichasial, open, internodes long, flowers scattered;
bract margins sparsely glandular.
1–5(–8) mm, 5–10(–25) mm in fruit, straight in bud, spreading at 75–90° angle, not reflexed or bent at apex.
0.5–2 mm near tips of branches, 4–5 mm in fruit, ascending, not bent at apex.
sepals erect, usually spreading at tip, lanceolate, 2–3 mm, equal, marginal glands small, surfaces glabrous or with hoary microscopic puberulence;
petals widely spreading, white or pink to lavendar-pink or rose pink, veins usually pink, usually obovate, sometimes oblanceolate, (3–)4–5(–6) mm, apex notched, sometimes deeply;
cup white, rim with petal attachment in shallow sinus;
stamens exserted;
filaments (2.5–)3–3.5(–4) mm;
anthers usually pink, sometimes deep rose, white-margined, dehisced anthers (0.8–)1.2–1.8(–2) mm;
ovary chambers 6;
styles 3, white, (2.5–)3–4(–5) mm, exserted.
sepals erect, not reflexed at tip, oblanceolate, (1.5–)3 mm, equal, margins sparsely glandular, surfaces glabrous;
petals widely spreading, yellow, veins sometimes red-streaked, oblanceolate to obovate, or almost oval, 3–4.5 mm, apex erose;
cup yellow, rim lobed between filaments and petal attachments;
stamens exserted;
filaments 1.5–2.5 mm;
anthers yellow, dehisced anthers 1–1.5 mm;
ovary chambers 6;
styles 3, color not known, 2–3.5 mm, exserted.
= 34.
Hesperolinon disjunctum
Hesperolinon sharsmithiae
Hesperolinon disjunctum is found in the Inner North Coast Ranges and eastern San Francisco Bay area. Dwarf plants with short internodes and crowded branches sometimes occur intermixed with normal-sized plants. Restricted to serpentine soils, populations of H. disjunction are often distant from each other; Sharsmith noted that morphological disjunction accompanies the geographical disjunction.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Hesperolinon sharsmithiae is known from Lake and Napa counties in the Hunting Creek drainage, Cedar Roughs, and Butts and Pope Creek canyons (R. O'Donnell 2010). It grows in the vicinity of at least six other species of Hesperolinon: H. bicarpellatum, H. californicum, H. clevelandii, H. disjunctum, H. didymocarpum, and H. spergulinum. The species is distinguished from H. bicarpellatum by having three rather than two carpels and by its larger flowers. Hesperolinon sharsmithiae differs from H. tehamense in lacking the hoary indument and in having narrower petals, and it differs from H. clevelandii in having shorter styles and stamens. In his orginal description, O'Donnell noted that most of the collections annotated as H. serpentinum (a name never validly published) can be assigned to H. sharsmithiae. O’Donnell reported an area on the ridge between Pope Valley and Butts Canyon in which plants were intermediate between H. bicarpellatum and H. sharsmithiae; he noted that over a period of four years individuals of H. sharsmithiae increased in number and those of H. bicarpellatum decreased.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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