Krigia occidentalis
Krigia montana
western dwarfdandelion
mountain dwarfdandelion
1–20+, ± scapiform, erect, eglandular or lightly glandular-villous.
1–5+, usually decumbent proximally, ascending and branched distally, glabrous, eglandular.
basal (rosettes) and proximally cauline (on scarcely elongated branches close to ground); petiolate (petioles sometimes ciliate-glandular);
blades linear, oblanceolate, or obovate, 1–7 cm, margins entire or sparingly lobed, lobes linear or triangular to rounded, apices acute or obtuse, faces eglandular.
basal and cauline; petiolate;
blades narrowly oblanceolate, apices acute, faces glabrous, eglandular;
basal 5–30 cm, margins denticulate to pinnately lobed, lobes broad and blunt or narrow, curving, and acute;
cauline becoming linear and reduced distally.
from basal rosettes.
terminal on leafy branches or in axils of cauline leaves and bracts (first sometimes scapiform from basal rosettes; usually glabrous, sometimes lightly glandular distally).
2.5–6.5 mm.
7–12 mm.
5–25;
corollas yellow, 5–9 mm.
25–60;
corollas yellow, 15–25 mm.
4–7, erect in fruit, lanceolate in flower, becoming ovate-lanceolate in fruit, midveins and sometimes secondary veins becoming prominent in fruit, curving inward at bases to form keels, apices acute.
8–16, reflexed in fruit, lanceolate, midveins obscure, apices acute, glabrous.
borne singly.
(2–)3–20+.
reddish brown, broadly obconic, 1.2–1.8 mm (apical areas broader than basal areoles), 10–15-ribbed;
pappi of 5, hyaline, rounded outer scales 0.4–0.6 mm plus usually 5, sometimes 0, scabrous inner bristles 1.2–2 mm.
brown, columnar, 2–2.8 mm, 12–15-ribbed;
pappi of 10–16 outer scales 0.5–0.8 mm plus 14–20, scabrous inner bristles 4.5–6 mm.
= 12.
= 20.
Krigia occidentalis
Krigia montana
Krigia occidentalis grows in the Eastern deciduous forest biome, tallgrass prairie, and mixedgrass prairie. It has superficial similarity in pappus form to K. virginica; it was consistently placed as the sister species to K. cespitosa in chloroplast cpDNA and nuclear rDNA studies by K. J. Kim et al. (1992b, 1992c). In morphology, it is most similar to the polyploid species K. wrightii, with 2n = 18.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Krigia montana is known from the high-elevation Appalachian ecosystem. In Buncombe County, North Carolina, there is an established population of the hexaploid hybrid between K. montana and K. biflora, Krigia ×shinnersiana K. L. Chambers (2004). It has been studied extensively on a molecular basis (K. J. Kim and T. J. Mabry 1991; Kim et al. 1992b, 1992c; Kim and R. K. Jansen 1994). Chloroplast and nuclear DNA data indicate that K. biflora was the maternal parent and K. montana the paternal parent. Krigia ×shinnersiana is leafy-stemmed but shows less branching than is typical of K. montana, and its flower color is intermediate between the orange of K. biflora and the yellow of K. montana. The plants propagate extensively by root buds as in the maternal parent.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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