Linum puberulum |
Linum lewisii |
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desert flax, hairy flax, plains flax |
blue flax, Lewis blue flax, Lewis' flax, Lewis' or wild blue flax, prairie flax, western blue flax, wild blue flax |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 4–25 cm, densely and finely gray-puberulent throughout. | Herbs, perennial, 5–80 cm, glabrous or glabrate throughout, ± glaucous. | ||||||||
Stems | ascending, branched at base, herbaceous throughout. |
erect to spreading or ascending, branched from near base and in inflorescence. |
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Leaves | alternate or sometimes proximal leaves opposite, appressed-ascending; stipular glands present (conspicuous); blade linear, 7–20 × 0.6–1.5 mm, margins entire or distal leaves sparsely glandular-toothed, ciliate, apex acute; 1-nerved. |
blade linear to linear-lanceolate or linear-oblanceolate, 5–30 × 0.5–3(–4.5) mm. |
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Inflorescences | open panicles. |
open panicles or racemes. |
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Pedicels | 5–10 mm. |
5–20 mm. |
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Flowers | sepals falling tardily, lanceolate, 4–7 mm, margins of inner sepals scarious, glandular-toothed, apex acute to acuminate, puberulent at least on midrib; outer 3-nerved; petals yellowish orange to salmon, with maroon or reddish base, obcordate or broadly obovate, 9–15 mm; stamens 4–7 mm; anthers 0.6–1.4 mm; staminodia absent; styles connate nearly to apex, 3–7 mm; stigmas dark, capitate. |
homostylous; sepals elliptic or elliptic-ovate, 3.5–6 mm, margins glabrous, apex acute; petals usually blue, sometimes white, base whitish or yellowish, cuneate-obovate, 6–23 mm; stamens 3–10 mm; anthers 1–2.2 mm; staminodia present; styles distinct, 2–12 mm; stigmas thickened ellipsoid-capitate. |
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Capsules | ovoid-ellipsoid, 3.5–4 × 2.5–5 mm, apex obtuse, dehiscing into 5, 2-seeded segments, segments persistent on plant, false septa complete, proximal margin not terminating in loose fringe, distal part cartilaginous, margins ciliate. |
ovoid globose, 4–8 × 5–6 mm, apex acute, segments ± persistent on plant, margins arachnoid-ciliate. |
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Seeds | 1.5–3 × 0.9–1.3 mm. |
2.5–5 × 1.5–3 mm. |
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2n | = 30. |
= 18. |
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Linum puberulum |
Linum lewisii |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Oct. | |||||||||
Habitat | Dry, open areas, rocky, sandy, limestone, gypsum, or sometimes clay soils. | |||||||||
Elevation | 300–2500 m. (1000–8200 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; NE; NM; NV; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
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AK; AR; AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; LA; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; n Mexico
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Discussion | Corollas of Linum puberulum are broadly bowl-shaped. The filaments and styles are pale pink; the stigmas are dark maroon. The pollen is bright yellow; on herbarium specimens, the anthers are golden yellow to orangish yellow, drying darker. In some flowers of L. puberulum, the styles seem to be eccentric. C. M. Rogers (1968) noted that L. puberulum is the only hairy species of Linum in western North America with united styles; its gray indument and complete false septa differentiate it from L. vernale, which is glabrous and has incomplete false septa. Linum puberulum is fairly common in the Rocky Mountain foothills and high plains; it occurs in the mountains in the eastern Mojave Desert. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Linum lewisii grows in many habitats in western North America from northern Mexico to Alaska east to the Great Plains in the United States and to the west side of Hudson and James bays in Canada; it appears to be less common in the Great Basin. A component of wildflower seed mixes, the species may be expanding its range. Some authors have considered it conspecific with L. perenne, and many collections in herbaria are identified as L. perenne without an indication of variety; they are most likely L. lewisii var. lewisii (D. J. Ockendon 1971; C. M. Rogers 1984). Because of the prevalence of L. bienne, L. perenne, and L. usitatissimum in bird seed and wildflower mixes, it may be that these three non-natives are becoming more common than in the past. Capitate stigmas distinguish L. lewisii from L. bienne and L. usitatissimum, which have linear or clavate stigmas. Distinguishing L. lewisii from L. perenne is more difficult: the size of flower parts in the homostyled L. lewisii varies along elevational and latitudinal gradients, with smaller flowers and flower parts in higher elevations and higher latitudes; except in var. lepagei, the styles are always longer than the stamens. In the heterostyled L. perenne, populations usually include plants in which flowers have stamens much longer than the very short styles (short-styled form) and plants in which flowers have stamens much shorter than the very long styles, up to twice as long as the stamens (long-styled form). C. A. Kearns and D. W. Inouye (1994) reported that Linum lewisii is facultatively autogamous but tends not to set seed in the absence of pollinators; small bees and flies are the most common pollinators. A. Cronquist et al. (1997b) reported unusual populations of L. lewisii on sandy soil in Nye County, Nevada, in the 40-Mile-Canyon drainage, that had persistent, ascending, pale blue petals with darker veins. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 388. | FNA vol. 12, p. 375. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Linaceae > Linum > sect. Linopsis | Linaceae > Linum > sect. Linum | ||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | L. rigidum var. puberulum | L. perenne subsp. lewisii, L. perenne var. lewisii | ||||||||
Name authority | (Engelmann) A. Heller: Pl. World 1: 22. (1897) | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 210. (1813) | ||||||||
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