Flora of North America species comparison

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Hydrangeaceae

Fendlera

hydrangea family, mock-orange family

Fendler-bush
Habit Subshrubs, shrubs, trees, or vines [herbs], evergreen or deciduous. Shrubs.
Stems

ascending or spreading.
Bark

exfoliating in grayish or reddish strings or strips, or sometimes not exfoliating.
Branches

erect or arching;

twigs with simple and minutely branched trichomes.
Leaves

usually opposite, sometimes whorled [alternate], simple;

stipules absent;

petiole present or absent;

blade sometimes palmately lobed, margins entire, serrate, serrulate, dentate, denticulate, or crenate;

venation pinnate or acrodromous (Fendlera, Fendlerella, Philadelphus, Whipplea).

deciduous, opposite, sometimes clustered on short shoots;

petiole present, relatively short;

blade linear, elliptic, lanceolate, oblong, ovate, or falcate, herbaceous or coriaceous, margins entire, plane or strongly revolute;

venation acrodromous, lateral veins sometimes obscure.
Inflorescences

terminal or axillary, cymes, panicles, racemes, or corymbs, or flowers solitary.

terminal, flowers solitary;

peduncle absent.
Pedicels

present.
Flowers

bisexual [unisexual], or sometimes marginal ones sterile, radially symmetric (bisexual ones) or bilaterally symmetric with enlarged petaloid sepals (sterile ones);

perianth and androecium nearly hypogynous, perigynous, or epigynous;

hypanthium completely adnate to ovary or adnate to ovary proximally, free distally;

sepals 4–12, distinct or connate basally;

petals 4–12, connate basally [entirely, then calyptrate];

nectary usually present, rarely absent;

stamens 8–200, usually distinct, sometimes connate proximally, free;

anthers dehiscing by longitudinal slits;

pistil 1, 2–12-carpellate, ovary less than 1/2 inferior, 1/2 inferior, or completely inferior, 1–12-locular, placentation usually axile proximally, parietal distally, rarely strictly axile or parietal;

ovules 1–50 per locule, anatropous;

styles 1–12, distinct or connate proximally to most of length;

stigmas (1–)2–12.

bisexual;

perianth and androecium nearly hypogynous;

hypanthium completely adnate to ovary, turbinate, broadly campanulate, or hemispheric, weakly or strongly 4- or 8-ribbed in fruit;

sepals persistent, 4, eventually erect or strongly recurved, usually triangular, sometimes ovate, glabrous or hairy;

petals 4, imbricate, spreading, white, sometimes tinged pink or red, broadly spatulate, base clawed, surfaces finely pubescent;

stamens 8;

filaments distinct, dorsiventrally flattened, gradually tapered toward apex, apex 2-lobed, lobes prolonged beyond anthers;

anthers oblong;

pistil 4(–5)-carpellate, ovary to 1/2 inferior, 4(–5)-locular;

placentation axile;

styles persistent, 4(–5), distinct.
Fruits

capsules [berries], dehiscence septicidal, loculicidal, interstylar, or intercostal.

Capsules

ovoid-ellipsoid, ± cartilaginous, dehiscence basipetally septicidal to middle of fruit.
Seeds

1–50 per locule, funicular appendage present (Fendlerella, Whipplea) or absent.

(1–)2–4(–6) per locule, reddish brown, ellipsoid.
x

= 11.

Hydrangeaceae

Fendlera
Distribution
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; Eurasia; Pacific Islands
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
sw United States; n Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Genera 17, species ca. 240 (9 genera, 25 species in the flora).

A. Cronquist (1981) placed Hydrangeaceae among a group of woody families traditionally allied with Saxifragaceae. Phylogenetic studies consistently place Hydrangeaceae in the Cornales and sister to Loasaceae (A. L. Hempel et al. 1995; D. E. Soltis et al. 1995; L. Hufford et al. 2001; Hufford 2004). Within Hydrangeaceae, the western North American genera Fendlera and Jamesia form a clade (subfam. Jamesioideae L. Hufford) that is sister to the rest of the family (subfam. Hydrangeoideae Burnett) (Hufford et al.; Hufford). Subfamily Hydrangeoideae comprises two tribes: Philadelpheae de Candolle ex Duby and Hydrangeeae de Candolle. North American genera in the former are Carpenteria, Deutzia, Fendlerella, Philadelphus, and Whipplea. A molecular phylogenetic study by Y. De Smet et al. (2015) clarified relationships within Hydrangeeae, found Hydrangea to be polyphyletic, and promoted adoption of a broader concept of Hydrangea that includes the eight other genera in the tribe. The two North American genera in the tribe, Decumaria and Hydrangea, are circumscribed here in their traditional senses.

The Hydrangeaceae are well represented in the paleobotanical record dating back to the Upper Cretaceous but best represented in the Tertiary (L. Hufford 2004). Some genera are sources of popular introduced or native ornamentals, including Carpenteria, Deutzia, Hydrangea, and Philadelphus. Some ornamentals have become established outside of cultivation in the flora area. A few North American Hydrangeaceae have reputed medicinal (D. E. Moerman 1998) or toxicologic (G. E. Burrows and R. J. Tyrl 2001) properties.

Trichomes in most Hydrangeaceae consist of a long, unicellular portion, often borne on a multicellular base. The unicellular portion often bears tubercles on its surface. Sometimes instead of tubercles, it bears long extensions, making the trichome appear branched or dendritic. Such trichomes are here referred to as branched.

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

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

A. J. Rehder (1920) found that the species of Fendlera show great uniformity in floral characters and may be distinguished easily by their leaves. N. H. Holmgren and P. K. Holmgren (1997) also reported that floral characters are remarkably uniform.

B. L. Turner (2001) recognized five species of Fendlera, including four in the flora. In addition to the species recognized here, B. L. Turner also recognized F. falcata and F. wrightii in our area; as noted later, these are best included within F. rupicola. The fifth species of Turner is F. tamaulipana, a taxon from Tamaulipas, Mexico; this species is here included in F. linearis.

Inflorescences of Fendlera have been described as solitary flowers or as clusters of two, three, or five flowers, racemes, or dichasial cymes. The inflorescence consists of a single flower terminating a leafy branch; these flower-bearing branches are sometimes aggregated. Frequently, the lateral branches are much-reduced and consist of a relatively short axis bearing two relatively small leaves and terminated by a flower. More rarely, the flowers appear nearly sessile in leaf axils, subtended by scales; this phenomenon is most frequent in F. linearis.

As in some species of Philadelphus, the buds on the long shoots of Fendlera are hidden in pouches of tissue at the bases of the petioles.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Woody vines.
Decumaria
1. Subshrubs, shrubs, or trees.
→ 2
2. Twigs with stellate and simple trichomes.
Deutzia
2. Twigs glabrous or with simple or, sometimes, branched trichomes, never with stellate trichomes.
→ 3
3. Flowers both sterile and bisexual.
Hydrangea
3. Flowers all bisexual.
→ 4
4. Stamens (11–)13–90 or 150–200.
→ 5
5. Sepals 4; petals 4 (or 8+ in some horticultural forms); ovaries inferior to 1/2 inferior, 4-locular; styles 1 or 4; leaves deciduous; stamens (11–)13–90.
Philadelphus
5. Sepals 5–7; petals 5–7(–8); ovaries nearly superior, 5–7-locular; styles 1; leaves persistent; stamens 150–200.
Carpenteria
4. Stamens 8–12.
→ 6
6. Stems prostrate to decumbent.
Whipplea
6. Stems erect, ascending, or spreading.
→ 7
7. Filament apices 2-lobed, lobes prolonged beyond anthers; seeds (1–)2–4(–6) per locule.
Fendlera
7. Filament apices not 2-lobed; seeds 1 or 10–50 per locule.
→ 8
8. Inflorescences 100–1000-flowered; capsule dehiscence interstylar, creating pore at base of styles.
Hydrangea
8. Inflorescences 1–35-flowered; capsule dehiscence septicidal.
→ 9
9. Leaf blade margins usually crenate to dentate, rarely entire; blades ovate or broadly ovate to obovate, rhombic, or suborbiculate, venation pinnate; seeds 25–50 per locule.
Jamesia
9. Leaf blade margins entire; blades elliptic to lanceolate, oblanceolate, obovate, or linear-oblong, venation acrodromous; seeds 1 per locule.
Fendlerella
1. Leaf blades coriaceous, linear, 1.3–2 mm wide, margins strongly revolute, touching midvein, abaxial surface hidden, adaxial surface with scattered, appressed trichomes; midvein 0.5–1 mm wide, flat.
F. linearis
1. Leaf blades herbaceous to coriaceous, usually elliptic, lanceolate, oblong, ovate, or falcate, rarely linear, 2–10 mm wide, margins plane to revolute, not touching midvein, abaxial surface visible, strigose, sometimes with understory of minute, finely branched trichomes, adaxial surface with appressed trichomes and/or short, erect trichomes; midvein 0.2–0.3 mm wide, raised.
F. rupicola
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 462. Treatment author: Craig C. Freeman. FNA vol. 12, p. 466. Treatment authors: Ronald L. McGregor†, James Henrickson.
Parent taxa Hydrangeaceae
Subordinate taxa
Carpenteria, Decumaria, Deutzia, Fendlera, Fendlerella, Hydrangea, Jamesia, Philadelphus, Whipplea
F. linearis, F. rupicola
Name authority Dumortier Engelmann & A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 3(5): 77, plate 5. (1852)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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