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Tolmie's owl's-clover

Habit Annuals 10–35 cm.
Stems

erect, scabrous and sparsely puberulent.

Leaves

15–50 mm;

blade margins entire.

Inflorescences

spikes or racemes, 2–15 cm;

bracts 10–20 mm, margins entire or 3-lobed in proximal 1/2, proximal resembling distal leaves, midlobe yellow-green to purple distally, narrowly triangular, 0.7–1 mm wide, apex acute, not cuspidate, lateral lobes linear to narrowly triangular.

Pedicels

0–2 mm.

Flowers

calyx 4–8 mm;

corolla 10–17 mm, longer than bracts, abaxial lip conspicuously inflated, lobes 3, triangular, adaxial lip yellow or purple-pink, 4–5 mm, 1–2 mm longer than abaxial, glabrous or puberulent, tip notably hooked, not bearded.

Capsules

4–6 mm, apex retuse.

Seeds

3–6, light brown, narrowly ellipsoid, 1.8–2.5 mm, shallowly reticulate, not ridged.

2n

= 14.

Orthocarpus tolmiei

Distribution
from FNA
ID; UT; WY
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Orthocarpus tolmiei is similar to both O. luteus and O. purpureoalbus but usually can be distinguished by its highly branched stems.

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Corollas yellow, adaxial lips sparsely puberulent; calyces glabrous or sparsely glandular-puberulent.
subsp. tolmiei
1. Corollas purple-pink, adaxial lips puberulent; calyces densely glandular-puberulent.
subsp. holmgreniorum
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 684.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Orthocarpus
Sibling taxa
O. barbatus, O. bracteosus, O. cuspidatus, O. imbricatus, O. luteus, O. pachystachyus, O. purpureoalbus, O. tenuifolius
Subordinate taxa
O. tolmiei subsp. holmgreniorum, O. tolmiei subsp. tolmiei
Name authority Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 379. (1839)
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