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Coconino ivesia, manyleaf mousetail, red comarella

Habit Plants green. Plants usually ± tufted, not forming hanging clumps, not aromatic; taproot stout, not fusiform or fleshy.
Stems

ascending to erect, 2–6 dm.

(1.8–)2–6(–6.5) dm.

Basal leaves

6–25(–30) cm; sheathing base minutely glandular abaxially;

petiole 0.5–8(–10) cm;

leaflets 12–30 per side, obovate to broadly cuneate, 5–12(–15) mm, incised 1/3–1/2 to base into 3–5 oblong to ovate teeth, sometimes entire, sparsely short-strigose to -villous, sometimes glabrate.

cylindric;

stipules usually present, sometimes much-reduced;

leaflets loosely to ± tightly overlapping, individually distinguishable at least distally, toothed 1/3–1/2 or lobed to base, sometimes entire, sparsely to ± densely hairy, sometimes glabrate;

terminal leaflets indistinct.

Cauline leaves

1–3, not paired;

blade well developed.

Inflorescences

(5–)8–60-flowered, 2–12 cm diam.

open, flowers arranged individually.

Pedicels

5–30(–35) mm.

remaining straight.

Flowers

9–12 mm diam.;

epicalyx bractlets narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 1–2 mm;

hypanthium interior brick- to blood-red or golden, 0.5–1.5 × 3–5 mm;

sepals 3–4.5 mm, base brick- to blood-red adaxially, apex acute to acuminate;

petals brick- to blood-red, linear to oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 2–3.5 mm;

stamens 5, filaments 1.3–2 mm, anthers maroon, oblong, 0.6–0.9 mm;

carpels 1–5, styles 2–3 mm.

hypanthium patelliform;

petals medially reflexed, yellow or red, not clawed, apex acute to obtuse;

stamens 5, anthers longer than wide, laterally dehiscent;

carpels 1–5.

Achenes

brown, 2–2.5 mm.

horizontal, smooth, not carunculate.

2n

= 28.

Ivesia multifoliolata

Ivesia sect. Comarella

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Dry flats and slopes, on gravelly volcanic or sandstone soil, often along seasonal stream courses, in oak and conifer woodlands
Elevation 1800–2400 m (5900–7900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ
[BONAP county map]
sw United States
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Ivesia multifoliolata is found between the Grand Canyon and Mogollon Rim in northern Arizona. It is both the only species of the genus with red petals and the only one that overlaps the range of the red-petaled Potentilla sect. Rubrae.

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

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

Rydberg established sect. Comarella to accommodate two species with wheel-shaped centrally turbinate hypanthia, linear petals, five stamens, and few carpels that are nearly horizontal at maturity. He understood both species to have purple petals, but the petals of Ivesia sabulosa are actually bright yellow. Other than flower color and leaflet lobing, the two species are nearly identical, with diffuse inflorescences on erect stems emerging from tufts of erect, slender leaves with numerous pairs of leaflets. The medially reflexed petals are unique to these two species of Ivesia, though not always well developed. The stipules of the basal leaves are often little more than slightly rounded, winglike extensions of the petiole base, if they are present at all.

Comarella is the only section of the genus without representation in California. The plants occur at the southeastern corner of the range of Ivesia in the southern Great Basin, southwestern Colorado Plateau, and adjacent Mojave Desert. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River divides the range of the two species in northern Arizona.

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

Key
1. Petals brick- to blood-red; leaflets incised 1/3–1/2 to base; s of Colorado River, Arizona.
I. multifoliolata
1. Petals yellow; leaflets incised to base; n of Colorado River, Arizona, Nevada, Utah.
I. sabulosa
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 244. FNA vol. 9, p. 243.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Ivesia > sect. Comarella Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Ivesia
Sibling taxa
I. aperta, 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. 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. multifoliolata, I. sabulosa
Synonyms Horkelia multifoliolata, Comarella multifoliolata, Potentilla multifoliolata section Comarella
Name authority (Torrey) D. D. Keck: Lloydia 1: 125. (1939) (Rydberg) Ertter & Reveal: Novon 17: 316. (2007)
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