Flora of North America species comparison

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Parietaria pensylvanica

Pennsylvania cucumber plant, Pennsylvania pellitory, rock pellitory
Habit Herbs, annual, 0.4-6 dm.
Stems

simple or freely branched, decumbent, ascending, or erect.
Leaf

blades narrowly to broadly elliptic, lanceolate, oblong, or ovate, (1-)2-9 × 0.4-3 cm, base narrowly cuneate, apex acuminate to long-attenuate or obtuse to rounded;

proximal pair of lateral veins arising above junction of blade and petiole.
Flowers

involucral bracts 1.8-5 mm, usually less than 2 times length of achene;

tepals 1.5-2 mm, shorter than bracts.
Achenes

light brown, symmetric, 0.9-1.2 × 0.6-0.9 mm, apex obtuse, mucro apical;

stipe straight, short-cylindric, centered, basally dilated.
2n

=14, 16.

Parietaria pensylvanica
Phenology Flowering spring–late fall.
Habitat Dry ledges, talus slopes, waste and shaded places, primarily in neutral to basic soils, and reported from margins of hot springs in northernmost locations
Elevation 0-2400 m (0-7900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; QC; SK; YT; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Some extremes of Parietaria pensylvanica with short, oblong or ovate leaf blades strongly resemble P. hespera var. hespera. Parietaria hespera is usually more delicate and has thinner leaves with the proximal pair of lateral veins arising at the junction of blade and petiole. Leaf shape and texture tend to overlap in the two species, but in P. pensylvanica the proximal pair of lateral veins clearly arise above the junction of blade and petiole. The extremes of P. pensylvanica frequently are found where the ranges of the two species approach or overlap. Examples of these intermediates are from Gila, Mohave, and Yuma counties, Arizona. A mixed collection from Rock Springs, Gila County, Arizona, suggests that the two species occasionally grow together.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Parietaria
Sibling taxa
P. floridana, P. hespera, P. judaica, P. praetermissa
Synonyms P. obtusa, P. occidentalis, P. pensylvanica var. obtusa
Name authority Muhlenberg ex Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 4(2): 955. (1806)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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