Malacomeles |
Malacomeles denticulata |
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false serviceberry |
Big Bend serviceberry, southern false serviceberry |
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Habit | Shrubs, 10–30[–50] dm. | |
Stems | 1–20, ascending, much branched, often ± twisted, young stems terete, closely villous, smooth; bark brown or gray, young stems not hairy; long shoots present, short shoots sometimes present; unarmed; grayish- or whitish-tomentose, sometimes glabrate; overwintering buds tomentose. |
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Leaves | drought-deciduous or persistent, cauline, simple, slightly conduplicate; stipules tardily deciduous or ± persistent, free, lanceolate, glandlike, margins entire; petiole present; blade elliptic or oblong-ovate to orbiculate, 0.5–1.5[–3.1] cm, leathery, margins flat, denticulate or entire, teeth gland-tipped, venation pinnate, abaxial surface tomentose, adaxial ± glabrous. |
stipules 1 mm; petiole 2–4(–10) mm; blade 0.5–1.5 × 0.3–1 mm, base cuneate to rounded or truncate, margins: teeth 4–8 per side, apex truncate to rounded or acute to mucronate. |
Bracts | persistent, lanceolate, ciliate. |
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Inflorescences | terminal on leafy shoots of season, 1–5[–7]-flowered, corymbs [panicles], axes glabrous or hairy; bracts absent; bracteoles sometimes present. |
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Pedicels | present. |
2–7(–9) mm. |
Flowers | perianth and androecium epigynous, 10 mm diam.; hypanthium campanulate [urceolate], (2–)3–4 mm, distally copiously white-tomentose; sepals 5, spreading, nearly orbiculate (inner broadly deltate); petals 5, white, round or kidney-shaped, base short-clawed; stamens [8–]14–20[–22], longer or shorter than petals; carpels 2 or 3[–5], barely connate or distinct, adnate to proximal 1/2–4/5 of hypanthium, ovary appearing 4–10-loculed by false partitions, densely hairy, styles 2 or 3, ventral, distinct; ovules 2 (separated by false partition). |
sepals 1.6 × 2.8 mm, ciliate; petals 2.5–5.5 mm. |
Fruits | berrylike pomes, translucent, vivid pink, drying purplish black, globose, 6–10 mm, glabrous; flesh whitish; hypanthium persistent; sepals persistent, erect or recurving; carpels cartilaginous; styles persistent. |
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Pomes | edible, insipid. |
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Seeds | 4–6(–10). |
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Malacomeles |
Malacomeles denticulata |
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Phenology | Flowering spring; fruiting summer. | |
Habitat | Talus slopes, canyons, on limestone and igneous substrates | |
Elevation | (500–)800–1700 m ((1600–)2600–5600 ft) | |
Distribution |
United States; Mexico; Central America |
TX; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) |
Discussion | Species 2 (1 in the flora). Malacomeles shares with Amelanchier and Peraphyllum the feature of false partitions within the carpels; the partitions partially divide the locules and make the fruit appear to have twice as many locules as the number of carpels (G. N. Jones 1945; K. R. Robertson et al. 1991; J. R. Rohrer et al. 1991). Sequences from multiple chloroplast and nuclear genes indicate that Malacomeles is closely related to Amelanchier and Peraphyllum (C. S. Campbell et al. 2007). The other species in the genus, Malacomeles nervosa (Decaisne) G. N. Jones, is known from Nuevo León, Mexico south to Guatemala. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Malacomeles denticulata is a xerophytic shrub with small leaves and flowers. The species is found in the flora area only in trans-Pecos Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 645. | FNA vol. 9, p. 646. |
Parent taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cotoneaster section M. | Cotoneaster denticulatus, 6(qto.), plate, Amelanchier denticulata |
Name authority | (Decaisne) Decaisne: Ann. Gén. Hort. 23: 156. (1882) | (Kunth) Decaisne: Fl. Serres Jard. Paris 23: 156. (1882) |
Web links |