Hybanthus verticillatus
Hybanthus
baby-slippers, nodding green-violet
greenviolet
1–20, clustered, erect, simple or branched from proximal nodes, glabrous or strigose to pilose.
persistent, 1–20, usually erect, sometimes suberect or prostrate, leafy, simple or branched, from thick, fleshy or subligneous, branched or unbranched rhizome or taproot.
proximal opposite or subopposite, distal usually alternate, petiolate or sessile;
stipules linear-subulate and minute to leaflike, 3–40 mm, glabrous or hirsute, gland-tipped;
petiole 0–1 mm;
blade linear, narrowly elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, 1–5.5(–6) × 0.1–0.8(–1.1) cm, base attenuate, margins usually entire, ciliate or eciliate, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces glabrous, strigose, or pilose.
cauline, simple, proximal usually opposite, distal usually alternate, petiolate or sessile;
stipules not adnate to petiole, linear-subulate to leaflike, usually shorter than leaves;
blade not overlapping basally, linear, lanceolate to oblanceolate, ovate to obovate, or elliptic, surfaces not mottled.
1-flowered;
peduncle usually pendant at anthesis, sometimes horizontal or erect, usually pendant in fruit, 3–14 mm, hirsute to densely puberulent, occasionally glabrous on segment distal to joint;
bracteoles present.
axillary in leaf axils, 1–3(4)-flowered or in poorly defined racemes;
peduncle jointed;
bracteoles present or absent.
sepals appressed to corolla, ovate to lanceolate, margins ciliate or eciliate, apex acute;
petals: upper greenish white, cream, or yellowish, with purple tips, oblong, 2–2.5 mm, apex acute to rounded, glabrous;
laterals similar to upper except 3 mm;
lowest greenish white, cream, or yellowish, sometimes tinged purplish, 2.5–6 mm, claw 2–3 × 0.5 mm, distal limb broadly ovate to orbiculate, ± concave at anthesis, 1–3 mm wide, apex rounded to obtusely angled, adaxial surface usually bearded basally and on claw;
presence of cleistogamous flowers not determined.
sepals subequal, not auriculate;
upper 2 and lateral 2 petals not showy, 0.5–5 mm, lowest petal showy, larger than others, narrowed at middle, angular-deltate, elliptic, oblong, orbiculate, or ovate, upper and lateral petals usually glabrous, lower sometimes bearded adaxially;
spur gibbous;
stamens connate, lowest 2 filaments not spurred with nectary; cleistogamous flowers present or absent.
ovoid to globose, 4–7 mm.
ovoid, globose, obtusely trigonous, oblong, or ellipsoid, glabrous.
6, dark brown to shiny black, subglobose, ± flattened with angular edges, or broadly ovoid, 1.8–2.5(–3) mm.
(3–)6–9, globose to slightly flattened, glabrous [hairy], with whitish elaiosome.
= 4.
= 16, 24, 32.
Hybanthus verticillatus
Hybanthus
Species 100–115 (5 in the flora).
In 2010, M. N. Seo et al. concluded that polyploidy likely played a role in speciation in Hybanthus and Seo et al. (2011) proposed an infrageneric classification of Hybanthus based on foliar micromorphology. Research using trnL/trnL–F and rbcL plastid regions shows that Hybanthus is polyphyletic and can be segregated into nine morphologically and biogeographically distinct groups (G. A. Wahlert et al. 2014). Molecular phylogenetic and morphological evidence will be used to circumscribe the nine Hybanthus lineages as separate genera (Wahlert et al.). Hybanthus would be reduced to two or three species and H. concolor would be placed in Cubelium (H. E. Ballard, pers. comm.), a position supported in some molecular studies, for example, T. Marcussen et al. (2010). The other four species in the flora area would be placed in Pombalia (Ballard, pers. comm.).
The overall outline of the lowest petal (sometimes referred to as the anterior petal) is usually pandurate or panduriform and is one of the more diagnostic characters of Hybanthus. The distal limb is usually enlarged and is longer and wider than the upper and lateral petals. The distal limb of some species rolls inward after anthesis.
The method by which capsules dehisce is not discussed in the major references that treat Hybanthus. Because of the similarity to Viola capsules, it may be assumed that their dehiscence is similar. Although capsules of Viola are sometimes described as “explosively dehiscent,” the capsules of at least some North American species open relatively slowly. As the capsule
valves dry out, they contract and squeeze the seeds causing them to be ballistically ejected. J. de Paula-Souza (pers. comm.) reported that Violaceae capsules in South America are not truly “explosive,” but rather the seeds are expelled as the capsule valves dry out.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Seeds white to cream. | H. concolor |
1. Seeds dark brown to black with white to gray mottling, brownish black to black, or shiny black | → 2 |
2. Leaf margins crenate to serrate | → 3 |
2. Leaf margins entire or remotely crenulate-dentate | → 4 |
3. Leaf blades 1.5–7(–10.5) cm; petioles (3–)4–7 mm; petals white, purple-tinged, or violet, lowest petal 8–12 mm; bracteoles present; Arizona. | H. attenuatus |
3. Leaf blades 0.3–3 cm; petioles 0.5–4 mm; petals white, lowest petal 1.5–3.7 mm; bracteoles absent; Georgia, New Jersey. | H. parviflorus |
4. Lowest petal 5–9.5 mm, limb 4–10 mm wide, with basal purple patch. | H. linearifolius |
4. Lowest petal 2.5–6 mm, limb 1–3 mm wide, without basal purple patch. | H. verticillatus |
KS Wildflowers
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