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Photo is of parent taxon

intermountain horkelia, tawny horkelia

dusky, dusky horkelia, horkelia, pinewoods, pinewoods horkelia, pink pinwheels, tawny horkelia

Stems

3–6 dm.

Basal leaves

green, 10–35(–40) cm;

leaflets 4–6(or 7) per side, narrowly to broadly obovate, 10–30(–35) × (5–)10–20(–25) mm, 1/2 to nearly as wide as long, divided 1/5–1/4 to midrib into 8–14 teeth, surfaces not obscured, ± sparsely hirsute to glabrate.

(3–)4–20(–40) × (1–)1.5–4(–7) cm;

leaflets narrowly cuneate to obovate to flabellate, 5–30(–35) × 2–20(–30) mm, 1/3 as wide to wider than long, divided into linear or oblanceolate to obovate teeth or lobes, sparsely to ± densely short-villous or hirsute, sometimes glabrate.

Cauline leaves

1–4(or 5);

leaflets of proximalmost 2 or 3(–5) per side.

1–5(or 6).

Inflorescences

green to reddish purple, congested to open, comprising 1/6–1/3 of stem, composed of 10–30-flowered glomerules, glandular hairs not or obscurely red-septate;

bracts acute-lobed, not obscuring pedicels and flowers at maturity.

Flowers

epicalyx bractlets 2–3.5(–4) mm;

hypanthium 2 × 2.5–4 mm;

petals (3–)4–6 mm;

filaments 0.5–1.5 mm, usually longer than wide, anthers 0.5–0.6 mm;

styles 1–1.5 mm.

5–12 mm diam.;

epicalyx bractlets 1–3 mm, 1/2 length of to nearly equal to sepals;

hypanthium 1–3 × 2–4 mm, 1/2 to nearly as deep as wide;

sepals spreading to ± reflexed, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, (1.7–)2–4(–4.5) mm;

petals 2–6(–6.5) mm;

filaments 0.2–1.5 × (0.2–)0.4–0.6(–1) mm, anthers 0.4–0.6 mm;

styles 0.9–1.5 mm.

Achenes

1.6–1.8 mm.

brown.

2n

= 28.

Horkelia fusca var. pseudocapitata

Horkelia fusca

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Dry meadow edges, often with sagebrush, aspen, and/or willows, open conifer woodlands, mainly on volcanic or granitic soil
Elevation 900–2300 m (3000–7500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The application of the epithet pseudocapitata here differs significantly from that of P. A. Rydberg (1908c), D. D. Keck (1938), and most floras, who used it for the taxon that is here called var. brownii. Instead, var. pseudocapitata encompasses the bulk of what had been called var. (or subsp.) capitata, except in mountains bordering the Palouse Prairie in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. For nomenclatural details, see B. Ertter and J. L Reveal (2007).

As here circumscribed, var. pseudocapitata is a relatively large, big-petaled variety that grows in the mountains in and bordering the northern Intermountain Region in northeastern California (primarily the Warner Mountains), northern Nevada, southeastern Oregon, and southern Idaho, extending northward along valleys from Camas to Blaine counties. Intermediate plants are common where the range intersects those of var. brownii, var. capitata, and var. parviflora, though in the core of its range var. pseudocapitata is reasonably distinctive and uniform.

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

Varieties 7 (7 in the flora).

Horkelia fusca represents the primary radiation of the genus beyond the California Floristic Province. Within California, H. fusca occurs in the Sierra Nevada and mountains of northern California, and it is the only representative of the genus extending beyond California and Oregon into Washington, Idaho, Nevada [with the possible exception of H. tridentata (10e. sect. Tridentatae) in Washoe County], and, questionably, Wyoming.

As here circumscribed, Horkelia fusca is the most diverse, most widely distributed species in the genus, with significant additional work needed to fully elucidate its variation patterns. The treatment presented here differs from that of D. D. Keck (1938) and B. Ertter (1993d) in using the rank variety instead of subspecies, circumscribing var. capitata more narrowly, and transferring the application of var. pseudocapitata from what is here called var. brownii to the bulk of what had been subsp. capitata (Lindley) D. D. Keck (B. Ertter and J. L. Reveal 2007).

There are two types of basal leaves in plants of Horkelia fusca. The ephemeral early-season leaves have leaflets that tend to be broadly cuneate-obovate, shallowly toothed, densely glandular but otherwise sparsely hairy, and deeply veined. The leaf features described below are drawn from the more persistent, mid season leaves that predominate at peak flowering and differ more strongly among varieties.

Petals of first-formed flowers are often larger than average; end-of-season petals can be smaller than average.

Although Montana is sometimes included in the range of Horkelia fusca, such references are based only on potential occurrence (W. E. Booth and J. C. Wright 1959).

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

Key
1. Leaflets divided ± 1/2–3/4+ to midrib
→ 2
1. Leaflets divided less than 1/2 to midrib
→ 4
2. Inflorescences usually with flowers arranged individually; sw Oregon.
var. filicoides
2. Inflorescences composed of 3–20-flowered glomerules, (flowers rarely arranged individually in var. fusca); ne California, nw Oregon, sw Washington
→ 3
3. Leaflets divided ± 1/2 to midrib, 5–18(–20) × 4–15 mm; petals 3–5 mm; filaments 0.5–1.3 mm, longer than wide; nw Oregon, sw Washington.
var. fusca
3. Leaflets divided 3/4+ to midrib, 5–10(–15) × 2–10(–20) mm; petals 2–3(–4) mm; filaments 0.2–0.5 mm, wider than long; ne California.
var. tenella
4. Leaves grayish, surfaces often obscured, ± densely short-villous; leaflets narrowly to broadly cuneate, usually 1/3–1/2 as wide as long; ne California, adjacent Oregon and Nevada.
var. brownii
4. Leaves green, surfaces not obscured, ± short-hirsute, villous, or glabrate; leaflets cuneate to broadly obovate, 1/2 to wider than long; California to Washington, Idaho, Wyoming
→ 5
5. Inflorescences dark reddish purple, densely congested, bracts acuminate-lobed, obscuring pedicels and flowers even at maturity, glandular hairs usually conspicuously red-septate; epicalyx bractlets (2–)3.5–5(–6) mm; cauline leaves 3–6, leaflets of proximalmost 3–5 per side; ne Oregon, se Washington, n Idaho.
var. capitata
5. Inflorescences green to reddish purple, congested to open, bracts acute-lobed, not obscuring pedicels and flowers at maturity, glandular hairs not or obscurely red-septate; epicalyx bractlets 1–3.5(–4) mm; cauline leaves 1–4(or 5), leaflets of proximalmost 2–4(or 5) per side; Cascade-Sierra axis of Oregon, California, e to Wyoming and n Nevada
→ 6
6. Petals (3–)4–6 mm; leaflets 10–30(–35) × (5–)10–20(–25) mm; epicalyx bractlets 2–3.5(–4) mm; mountains in and bordering n Intermountain Region, ne California, n Nevada, se Oregon, s Idaho.
var. pseudocapitata
6. Petals 2–4.5(–6.5) mm; leaflets 5–15(–20) × (2–)5–10(–15) mm; epicalyx bractlets 1–2(–3) mm; Sierra Nevada, California and Nevada, to Cascade Ranges, c Oregon, and mountains of c Idaho, adjacent Wyoming.
var. parviflora
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 262. FNA vol. 9, p. 259.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Horkelia > sect. Capitatae > Horkelia fusca Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Horkelia > sect. Capitatae
Sibling taxa
H. fusca var. brownii, H. fusca var. capitata, H. fusca var. filicoides, H. fusca var. fusca, H. fusca var. parviflora, H. fusca var. tenella
H. bolanderi, H. californica, H. clevelandii, H. congesta, H. cuneata, H. daucifolia, H. hendersonii, H. hispidula, H. howellii, H. marinensis, H. parryi, H. rydbergii, H. sericata, H. tenuiloba, H. tridentata, H. truncata, H. tularensis, H. wilderae, H. yadonii
Subordinate taxa
H. fusca var. brownii, H. fusca var. capitata, H. fusca var. filicoides, H. fusca var. fusca, H. fusca var. parviflora, H. fusca var. pseudocapitata, H. fusca var. tenella
Synonyms H. pseudocapitata, H. fusca subsp. pseudocapitata, Potentilla douglasii var. pseudocapitata Potentilla douglasii
Name authority (Rydberg ex Howell) M. Peck: Man. Pl. Oregon, 398. (1941) Lindley: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 23: plate 1997. (1837)
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