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woolly meadowfoam

white meadowfoam

Habit Plants 3–25 cm; herbage glabrous or sparsely to densely hairy. Plants 8–40 cm; herbage glabrous or sparsely to densely hairy.
Stems

erect to ascending or decumbent.

erect.

Leaves

1–8 cm;

leaflets 5–11, blade linear to ovate-elliptic, margins entire, irregularly toothed, or lobed.

2–10 cm;

leaflets 5–9, blade oblong, ovate, lanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, margins entire or shallowly 2-lobed to deeply 3-lobed.

Flowers

urn-, cup-, or bell-shaped;

sepals accrescent or not, ovate, obovate, lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate-ovate, 4–10 mm;

petals white, obovate, oblong, or obovate-cuneate, 4.5–10 mm, 1.6–1.8 times as long as wide, 0.5–1.1 times longer than sepals, apex retuse, obtuse, erose, truncate, or emarginate;

filaments 2–7 mm;

anthers (yellow) 0.4–1.5 mm;

style 1.5–4 mm.

bowl- to bell-shaped;

sepals accrescent or not, lanceolate, ovate, or lanceolate-ovate, 4–8 mm;

petals white or cream (sometimes cream basally, aging or drying pink or lilac), obovate, obovate-cuneate, or obcordate, 8–16 mm, 1–1.5 times as long as wide, 1.25–2.1 times longer than sepals, apex usually emarginate, sometimes truncate;

filaments 3–6 mm;

anthers 1–2 mm;

style 2–6 mm.

Nutlets

dark brown or gray, 3–4.5 mm, tuberculate, tubercles straw-colored, platelike, conic, or awl-shaped.

gray or dark brown, 3–4 mm, tuberculate or not, sometimes ridged, tubercles gray or dark brown, relatively low and wide.

2n

= 10.

Limnanthes floccosa

Limnanthes alba

Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora).

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

Subspecies 4 (4 in the flora).

Subspecies gracilis and parishii, previously in Limnanthes gracilis, are more closely related to subsp. alba than they are to each other. The genetic distance between them and other subspecies of L. alba is sufficient that an argument could be made for recognizing both parishii and gracilis as species (R. V. Kesseli, pers. comm.).

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

Key
1. Flowers bell- or urn-shaped (petals without marginal hairs basally); anthers usually dehiscing introrsely
→ 2
1. Flowers cup-shaped (petals with marginal hairs basally); anthers usually dehiscing extrorsely (introrsely in subsp. pumila)
→ 3
2. Sepals abaxially and adaxially densely villous; nutlet tubercles awl-shaped.
subsp. floccosa
2. Sepals abaxially and adaxially glabrous or sparsely hairy; nutlet tubercles platelike.
subsp. bellingeriana
3. Herbage densely hairy; sepals abaxially densely hairy.
subsp. californica
3. Herbage glabrous or sparsely hairy; sepals abaxially glabrous or sparsely hairy
→ 4
4. Sepals not accrescent, 7.5-8 mm, adaxially glabrous.
subsp. pumila
4. Sepals accrescent, 8.5-9 mm, adaxially densely hairy.
subsp. grandiflora
1. Herbage sparsely to densely hairy; sepals densely hairy; petals 10.5-16 mm.
subsp. alba
1. Herbage glabrous; sepals glabrous or sparsely hairy; petals 8-15 mm
→ 2
2. Petals 8-10 mm, 1 times as long as wide, obovate; styles 2-3 mm; San Diego County.
subsp. parishii
2. Petals (8-)12-15 mm, 1-1.3 times as long as wide, obcordate or obovate; styles 3-4 mm; central Sierra Nevada to southern Oregon
→ 3
3. Leaflet blade narrowly oblong; petals cream, aging or drying lilac, obcordate, sparsely hairy (hairs long).
subsp. versicolor
3. Leaflet blade ovate to linear-lanceolate; petals usually white, sometimes cream basally, aging or drying pink, obovate, glabrous.
subsp. gracilis
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 182. FNA vol. 7, p. 180.
Parent taxa Limnanthaceae > Limnanthes > sect. Inflexae Limnanthaceae > Limnanthes > sect. Inflexae
Sibling taxa
L. alba, L. bakeri, L. douglasii, L. macounii, L. montana, L. vinculans
L. bakeri, L. douglasii, L. floccosa, L. macounii, L. montana, L. vinculans
Subordinate taxa
L. floccosa subsp. bellingeriana, L. floccosa subsp. californica, L. floccosa subsp. floccosa, L. floccosa subsp. grandiflora, L. floccosa subsp. pumila
L. alba subsp. alba, L. alba subsp. gracilis, L. alba subsp. parishii, L. alba subsp. versicolor
Name authority Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 108. (1897) Hartweg ex Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 301. (1849)
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