Limnanthes floccosa
Limnanthes macounii
woolly meadowfoam
Macoun's meadow-foam
erect to ascending or decumbent.
decumbent (sometimes upcurved apically).
1–8 cm;
leaflets 5–11, blade linear to ovate-elliptic, margins entire, irregularly toothed, or lobed.
1–7 cm;
leaflets 3–15, blade ovate, margins irregularly toothed to 5-lobed.
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 (4) ovate, 3–4 mm;
petals (4) white, cuneate to obovate, 4–5 mm, apex emarginate (reflexed in fruit);
filaments 2–2.5 mm;
anthers cream, 0.3 mm;
style 3 mm.
dark brown or gray, 3–4.5 mm, tuberculate, tubercles straw-colored, platelike, conic, or awl-shaped.
light brown, 3 mm, tuberculate, tubercles light brown, broadly conical.
= 10.
Limnanthes floccosa
Limnanthes macounii
Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Limnanthes macounii is native on Vancouver Island and adjacent islands in British Columbia from East Sooke Park to Victoria, Inskip, Chatham, and Trial islands, to Yellow Point, Saltspring, Gabriola, and Hornby islands. It grows in seasonally moist depressions (including edges of vernal pools) in acidic soils that often have a high nutrient content. The population in California is in an agricultural field in San Mateo County; first discovered there in 1998 (E. G. Buxton 1998), it appears to be persisting. Phylogenetic analyses suggest this may be an aberrant population of L. douglasii (S. Meyers, pers. comm.)
The angular and comparatively massive tubercles of the nutlets of Limnanthes macounii, with the base equaling 1/4–1/3 the width of the nutlet, are unique in the genus (H. H. Hauptli et al. 1978). Allozyme studies by R. V. Kesseli and S. K. Jain (1984b) showed that L. macounii had alleles found in no other taxa at three loci. M. S. Plotkin (1998) concluded that L. macounii should be included in L. douglasii based on ITS analysis. Because of its unique characteristics and highly disjunct distribution, L. macounii is maintained as a species here pending further study.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
