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Sierra Valley ivesia, Sierra Valley mousetail

Sierra Valley ivesia, Sierra Valley mousetail

Habit Plants greenish gray to silvery; glands sparse.
Stems

ascending to erect.

decumbent to erect, 1.5–4.5 dm.

Basal leaves

(7–)10–20(–23) cm; sheathing base densely strigose abaxially;

stipules absent;

petiole 4–8 cm, hairs abundant, ascending, ± 1(–3) mm;

leaflets 20–35 per side, loosely overlapping, 3–15(–20) mm, lobes 0–4(–5), oblanceolate to elliptic, hairs abundant, ascending to appressed, ± 1(–2) mm.

Cauline leaves

3–8.

Inflorescences

(10–)20–250-flowered, 1–14 cm diam., flowers arranged in several to many tight glomerules of 5–20 flowers.

Pedicels

1–3(–15) mm.

Flowers

(20–)30–250, usually more than 10 per glomerule, 5–10 mm diam.;

hypanthium 2–3(–4) mm diam.;

petals oblanceolate, 2–3 mm, shorter than sepals;

filaments 1–1.5(–2) mm;

styles 2–3 mm.

5–12 mm diam.;

epicalyx bractlets lanceolate, 1.5–2.5(–3.5) mm;

hypanthium cupulate, 1–2 × 2.5–4(–5) mm, 1/2–2/3 as deep as wide;

sepals green, 2.5–4(–5.5) mm, acute to acuminate;

petals light yellow, oblanceolate to broadly obovate, 2–7 mm;

stamens 20, filaments filiform, 1–4 mm, anthers yellow, 0.4–0.6 mm;

carpels 2–7, styles 2–4 mm.

Achenes

brown, 2–3 mm.

2n

= 28.

Ivesia aperta var. aperta

Ivesia aperta

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Dry meadows, edges of seeps, slopes, and flats, on vernally saturated volcanic soil, in sagebrush and grass communities, conifer woodlands
Elevation 1300–2300 m (4300–7500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Variety aperta is most abundant in Sierra Valley and its drainages in Plumas and Sierra counties, California, barely extending into Lassen County. Disjunct populations occur in the Carson Range in southern Washoe County and the Virginia Range of Storey County, Nevada.

The chromosome count given here is based on a collection originally identified as Ivesia sericoleuca (D. D. Keck & A. Gustafsson 4901).

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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Many historic collections of Ivesia aperta were identified as I. pickeringii. D. D. Keck (1938) considered I. aperta to be no more than a yellow-flowered form of I. sericoleuca, a situation clarified and rectified by J. T. Howell (1962). The ranges of the two species overlap in Sierra Valley, California, with mixed populations occurring near Beckwourth and in the valleys north of Sierra Valley. In general, var. aperta occurs in the southeastern portions of the valley and I. sericoleuca occurs on the western side; the species are not otherwise sympatric. In addition to petal color, which fades in herbarium material, I. aperta differs from I. sericoleuca in having smaller flowers with shallower hypanthia. Hairs at the base of the stems and petioles of I. aperta are relatively short (to 2 mm) and generally ascending; those of I. sericoleuca are longer (to 4 mm) and spreading. Variety canina combines the petal color of var. aperta and floral dimensions of I. sericoleuca.

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

Key
1. Petals 2–3 mm, oblanceolate; filaments 1–1.5(–2) mm; Sierra Valley drainage, California, Carson and Virginia ranges, Nevada.
var. aperta
1. Petals usually 4–7 mm, narrowly to broadly obovate; filaments 2–4 mm; Dog Valley, California, Nevada.
var. canina
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 241. FNA vol. 9, p. 240.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Ivesia > sect. Unguiculatae > Ivesia aperta Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Ivesia > sect. Unguiculatae
Sibling taxa
I. aperta var. canina
I. argyrocoma, I. arizonica, I. baileyi, I. callida, I. campestris, I. cryptocaulis, I. gordonii, I. jaegeri, I. kingii, I. longibracteata, I. lycopodioides, I. muirii, I. multifoliolata, I. paniculata, I. patellifera, I. pickeringii, I. pityocharis, I. pygmaea, I. rhypara, I. sabulosa, I. santolinoides, I. saxosa, I. sericoleuca, I. setosa, I. shockleyi, I. tweedyi, I. unguiculata, I. utahensis, I. webberi
Subordinate taxa
I. aperta var. aperta, I. aperta var. canina
Synonyms Potentilla aperta
Name authority unknown (J. T. Howell) Munz: Suppl. Calif. Fl., 111. (1968)
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