The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

dusky, horkelia, pinewoods, pinewoods horkelia, tawny horkelia

shaggy horkelia, Sierra horkelia

Habit Plants tufted or rosette-forming, green to grayish green.
Stems

ascending to erect, 1.5–5 dm, hairs 2–3 mm proximally, glands dense distally.

Basal leaves

(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.

± planar, (3–)4–15 × 1–3 cm, usually villous at least abaxially, often densely so;

stipules entire, deeply 2-lobed, or pinnately divided into 3–5 linear lobes;

leaflets 2–6 per side, ± separate, narrowly cuneate or lanceolate-elliptic to oblong, 5–20 × (1–)2–5(–6) mm, 1/5–1/2 as wide as long, divided 1/6–1/4 or less to midrib into (0–)3(–5) ± ovate teeth 1–2 mm wide, these restricted to apex.

Cauline leaves

1–5(or 6).

2–7;

stipules 5–25(–30) mm, divided 3/4+ into linear or linear-lanceolate lobes, or incompletely divided or divided no more than 2/3 into lanceolate, often acuminate teeth.

Inflorescences

open to congested, flowers usually arranged in ± capitate glomerules or corymbiform clusters.

Pedicels

1–3(–6) mm.

Flowers

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.

8–16 mm diam.;

epicalyx bractlets linear to lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 1–3 × 0.3–0.8 mm, ± 2/3 length of sepals;

hypanthium 2–2.5 × 3–4.5 mm, ± 1/2 to nearly as deep as wide, interior usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely pilose;

sepals spreading, abaxially green, 2–4.5 mm;

petals white to cream, ± obovate, (2.5–)3–6 × (1.5–)2–5 mm, apex ± rounded to ± emarginate;

filaments (0.5–)1–2 × (0.2–)0.4–0.6 mm, anthers 0.4–0.7(–1) mm;

carpels (6–)10–15(–20), styles 1.5–3 mm.

Achenes

brown.

brown, 1.6–2.2 mm, faintly rugose.

Horkelia fusca

Horkelia congesta

Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA; WY
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

As discussed by D. D. Keck (1938) and analyzed by T. N. Kaye (unpubl., Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, 1995), Horkelia congesta comprises three population clusters that form a latitudinal gradient in Oregon west of the Cascade Range, transitioning to H. tridentata in the mountains of California. Populations of H. congesta in remnant prairies in the Willamette Valley (probably including the type of H. hirsuta Lindley) have relatively tall, erect stems, pectinate stipules, relatively numerous, narrow leaflets, openly branched inflorescences with flowers in corymbiform clusters, and clawed petals 5–6 × 4–5 mm. In contrast, populations centered in rocky serpentine flats within the Illinois River drainage in Josephine County, which were described by Keck as subsp. nemorosa, tend to have shorter ascending stems, less divided stipules, fewer and broader leaflets, more capitate inflorescences, and scarcely clawed petals 3–4 × 2–3 mm. The differences between these two extremes are blurred by populations from the Umpqua Valley in Douglas County (the probable type locality of H. congesta), as well as scattered populations in northern Jackson and Josephine counties. Based on morphometric analyses of 19 characters, Kaye concluded that the Umpqua material overlapped slightly with plants from the Willamette Valley, while the Josephine County populations clustered separately. He retained the Umpqua and Willamette valley populations as subsp. congesta, with mid stem stipule features of greatest diagnostic value. This taxonomic conclusion is adopted here, with a change of rank from subspecies to variety.

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

Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Horkelia > sect. Capitatae Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Horkelia > sect. Tridentatae
Sibling taxa
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
H. bolanderi, H. californica, H. clevelandii, H. cuneata, H. daucifolia, H. fusca, 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
H. congesta var. congesta, H. congesta var. nemorosa
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
1. Cauline leaves: stipules divided 3/4+ into linear to linear-lanceolate lobes; inflorescences composed of ± corymbiform clusters to capitate glomerules; petals (3–)4–6 × (2–)3–5 mm; remnant prairies, Willamette and Umpqua valleys, Oregon.
var. congesta
1. Cauline leaves: stipules incompletely divided or divided no more than 2/3 into lanceolate, often acuminate teeth; inflorescences usually composed of ± capitate glomerules; petals 2.5–3(–4) × (1.5–)2–3 mm; serpentine flats, Illinois River drainage, Oregon, and Del Norte County, California.
var. nemorosa
Synonyms Potentilla douglasii Potentilla congesta
Name authority Lindley: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 23: plate 1997. (1837) Douglas ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 56: plate 2880. (1829)
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 259. Treatment authors: Barbara Ertter, James L. Reveal. FNA vol. 9, p. 267. Treatment authors: Barbara Ertter, James L. Reveal.
Web links