FNA: Horkelia congesta var. congesta vs. Horkelia sect. Tridentatae

Phenology

Flowering spring–summer.

Habitat

Wet to dry remnant prairies, generally near valley bottoms, or on balds of low hills in oak-conifer woodlands, generally on volcanic soil

Elevation

80–700 m (300–2300 ft)

Distribution

OR

[BONAP county map]

w United States

Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Variety congesta is a component of the vanishing Willamette Prairie flora in western Oregon (T. N. Kaye, unpubl.). The variety has been extirpated from the northern part of its range in Marion, Polk, and Washington counties, and only isolated populations remain in the southern Willamette Valley, primarily in Lane County, and in the Umpqua Valley in Douglas County. A specimen from northern Josephine County (Beach 509, UC) is also referable to var. congesta, and two historic collections from the Rogue River Valley in Jackson County are intermediate between var. congesta and var. nemorosa.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 5 (5 in the flora).

P. A. Rydberg (1908c) assigned the species here composing this section to three of his unranked groups: Hirsutae, Sericatae (also including Horkelia hispidula), and Tridentatae, validated inadvertently as sections by O. A. Stevens in the index to volume 22 of North American Flora. In addition to lacking the characteristic Horkelia odor, plants are often rosette-forming from simple caudices; stipules are sometimes highly divided; and leaflets are either few-toothed or deeply lobed. The section is centered in the Siskiyou-Klamath region of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon, with some affinity for ultramafic substrates. Horkelia tridentata extends south in the Sierra Nevada; H. congesta is a component of the Willamette Valley flora. Much of the variation in the section is highly localized, with a full series of intergrading morphologies, indicative of a relatively recent and active radiation. More segregates are recognized here than in some recent floras (M. E. Peck 1941; P. A. Munz 1959; B. Ertter 1993d), and additional variants are likely to warrant taxonomic recognition.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key

1. Leaflets 2–6 per side, separate to slightly overlapping, divided into (0–)3(–5) teeth restricted to apex; inflorescences: flowers usually arranged in ± capitate glomerules, sometimes in corymbiform clusters	→ 2
1. Leaflets 5–20 per side, ± overlapping, divided into (0–)2–15 linear to elliptic or oblanceolate lobes or teeth not restricted to apex; inflorescences: flowers arranged individually, in corymbiform clusters, and/or in usually non-capitate glomerules	→ 3
2. Petals ± obovate, (1.5–)2–5 mm wide; stems: glands dense distally; Oregon, barely in nw California.	H. congesta
2. Petals linear to broadly oblanceolate, 0.3–1.5 mm wide; stems: glands absent or sparse distally; California, barely in sw Oregon.	H. tridentata
3. Leaflets 5–10 per side, 5–15(–25) mm, divided 3/4+ to midrib into (0–)2–15 lobes; stems: hairs 2–3 mm proximally; inflorescences open to ± congested, flowers arranged individually or in ± corymbiform clusters; petals white to cream, often drying yellowish.	H. daucifolia
3. Leaflets (8–)10–20 per side, 2–10(–15) mm, divided ± 1/2–3/4 to midrib into (0–)2–4 lobes; stems: hairs 1 mm proximally; inflorescences open, flowers arranged individually and/or in non-capitate glomerules; petals white to pink or red-veined	→ 4
4. Plants silvery; basal leaves densely sericeous, 3–10 cm, stipules usually entire or forked, rarely pinnately divided.	H. sericata
4. Plants ± green; basal leaves usually villous to pilose, often glabrate, 5–15 cm, stipules deeply 2-lobed or pinnately divided into 3–5 lobes.	H. howellii