Linum puberulum |
Linum sulcatum |
|
---|---|---|
desert flax, hairy flax, plains flax |
grooved flax, grooved yellow flax, lin à rameaux sillonnés |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 4–25 cm, densely and finely gray-puberulent throughout. | Herbs, annual, 25–85 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | ascending, branched at base, herbaceous throughout. |
erect to ascending, unbranched proximally, few to many branches above middle, conspicuously sulcate. |
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. |
proximal 0–13 pairs opposite (often fallen at anthesis), distal alternate, appressed-ascending; stipular glands usually present, very rarely absent; blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 7–30 × 1–3 mm, margins entire, distal leaves not ciliate, apex acute to subulate; midrib prominent, marginal nerves less conspicuous. |
Inflorescences | open panicles. |
open panicles; bracts glandular-toothed, not ciliate. |
Pedicels | 5–10 mm. |
1.3–4.7 mm. |
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. |
sepals persistent, lanceolate, (3.1–)3.6–5(–7.3) mm, inner sepals more delicate than outer, shorter, margins not scarious, all very conspicuously glandular-toothed, apex acuminate, central and marginal veins conspicuous; petals pale yellow, obovate, 5–10 mm; stamens 3.3–5.7 mm; anthers 0.3–0.7 mm; staminodia absent; styles connate 0.2–1.8 mm at base, 2–4.5 mm; stigmas capitate. |
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. |
globose, 2.5–3.3 × 2.1–3 mm, apex rounded to acute, dehiscing freely into 10, sharp-pointed, 1-seeded segments; segments persistent on plant, false septa incomplete, margins prominently ciliate. |
Seeds | 1.5–3 × 0.9–1.3 mm. |
1.6–2.1 × 0.8–1.1 mm. |
2n | = 30. |
= 30. |
Linum puberulum |
Linum sulcatum |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Oct. | Flowering May–Sep. |
Habitat | Dry, open areas, rocky, sandy, limestone, gypsum, or sometimes clay soils. | Sandy, gravelly fields, calcareous ledges and barrens, diabase barrens, cedar glades, prairies, alvars, sometimes in open woods, interdunal flats. |
Elevation | 300–2500 m. (1000–8200 ft.) | 0–800 m. (0–2600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; NE; NM; NV; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
|
AL; AR; CT; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; ON; QC
|
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.) |
Linum sulcatum and L. harperi are the only species of the genus in eastern North America with styles united from the base to the middle and all five sepals persistent and with glandular-toothed margins. In L. sulcatum, all parts of the flower are yellow and the corolla is funnelform. Dried plants of L. sulcatum are pale green. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 388. | FNA vol. 12, p. 386. |
Parent taxa | Linaceae > Linum > sect. Linopsis | Linaceae > Linum > sect. Linopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | L. rigidum var. puberulum | Cathartolinum sulcatum |
Name authority | (Engelmann) A. Heller: Pl. World 1: 22. (1897) | Riddell: W. J. Med. Phys. Sci., 10. (1836) |
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