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cancerwort, fluellin

sharp leaf fluellin, sharp point fluellin, sharp-leaf cancerwort, sharp-leaf fluellen, sharppoint fluvellin

Habit Herbs, annual [perennial]. Plants 4–120 cm.
Stems

decumbent or prostrate to erect [climbing], villous to glandular-hairy [glabrous].

Leaves

cauline, alternate, sometimes opposite proximally;

petiole present;

blade oblong-ovate to orbiculate or cordate, not fleshy, not leathery, margins entire or dentate [lobed].

petiole 2–6 mm;

blade: proximal 15–35 × 10–30 mm, base truncate or rounded to cuneate, distal 4–25 × 2–14 mm, base hastate to sagittate, villous with scattered glandular hairs.

Inflorescences

axillary, flowers solitary;

bracts absent.

Pedicels

present, spreading;

bracteoles absent.

10–22 mm.

Flowers

bisexual;

sepals 5, basally connate, equal, calyx radially symmetric, campanulate, lobes lanceolate [linear], villous;

corolla yellow [white], often tinged blue to violet [red], bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate and personate, tubular, tube base not gibbous, spurred abaxially, lobes 5, abaxial 3, spreading, adaxial 2, erect, subequal, apex round;

stamens 4, basally adnate to corolla, didynamous, included, filaments incurved, sparsely hairy or glabrous, anthers coherent, ciliate, pollen sacs oblong;

staminode 0;

ovary 2-locular, villous, locules subequal, placentation axile;

stigma capitate.

sepal lobes lanceolate, 3–6 × 1–2 mm, not accrescent, apex acuminate, villous;

corolla tube 1–2 mm, palate yellow, inflated, hairy, spurs 5–6 mm, abaxial lobes yellow to violet, adaxial blue to violet, 2–3 mm;

abaxial filaments 1.5–2 mm, adaxial 1–1.5 mm;

style included, 1.3–1.5 mm;

stigma straight.

Fruits

capsules, dehiscence poricidal [indehiscent].

Capsules

ovoid-globular, 3–5 mm.

Seeds

[6–]20–40[–60], dark brown to black, oblong-ovoid [reniform], wings absent.

1–1.5 mm, cristate-tuberculate.

x

= 9.

2n

= 36.

Kickxia

Kickxia elatine

Phenology Flowering May–Oct(–Dec).
Habitat Gravelly or sandy disturbed sites, roadsides, stream banks, gravel bars, glades.
Elevation 0–900 m. (0–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
Eurasia; n Africa; Atlantic Islands [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Pacific Islands, Australia]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; CT; DE; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WA; WI; WV; BC; ON; Eurasia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, Central America, South America, Atlantic Islands, Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 9 or 46 (2 in the flora).

Kickxia is characterized by personate, long-spurred corollas, coherent anthers, and poricidal capsule dehiscence. Early treatments proposed that Kickxia was congeneric with, or closely related to, Linaria (G. Bentham 1876; P. A. Munz 1926); later taxonomic treatments and phylogenetic analyses have supported generic rank for Kickxia (W. Rothmaler 1943; D. A. Sutton 1988; M. Ghebrehiwet 2001). Morphology- and molecular-based phylogenies support Anarrhinum Desfontaines (x = 10) as the most likely sister group to Kickxia (x = 9) and their basal position in Antirrhineae as the Anarrhinum clade (Ghebrehiwet et al. 2000; P. Vargas et al. 2004).

Although usually considered in a broad sense (D. A. Sutton 1988), N. Yousefi et al. (2016) proposed, on the basis of ITS and trnl sequence data, that Kickxia sect. Valvatae (Wettstein) Janchen be recognized at the genus level. Kickxia then becomes a genus of nine species, with 37 being transferred to Nanorrhinum Betsche.

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

Kickxia elatine differs from K. spuria in leaf and calyx characters. Two subspecies of K. elatine have been described [subsp. elatine and subsp. crinita (Mabille) W. Greuter]; they are poorly defined (D. A. Sutton 1988; M. Ghebrehiwet 2001) and differentiated on the basis of indument density.

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

Key
1. Leaf blade bases: proximal truncate or rounded to cuneate, distal hastate to sagittate; sepal lobes not accrescent.
K. elatine
1. Leaf blade bases rounded to cordate; sepal lobes accrescent.
K. spuria
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 25. Author: Wayne J. Elisens. FNA vol. 17, p. 25.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae > Kickxia
Sibling taxa
K. spuria
Subordinate taxa
K. elatine, K. spuria
Synonyms Antirrhinum elatine
Name authority Dumortier: Fl. Belg., 35. (1827) (Linnaeus) Dumortier: Fl. Belg., 35. (1827)
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