Flora of North America species comparison

Subspecies 6 (5 in the flora).

Pedicularis sudetica is a difficult complex. Hultén employed the degree of lobing on subtending floral bracts, length of corolla tubes, and inflorescence vestiture in recognizing eight infraspecific taxa. U. Molau and D. F. Murray (1996) emphasized presence or absence of spots on the abaxial lip, inflorescence vestiture, length of petioles and calyx, and ecological features to define four species, subsuming several of Hultén’s other subspecific taxa into these species. According to Molau and Murray, P. sudetica in the narrow sense is a morphologically distinct, disjunct taxon endemic to the Sudeten Mountains of central Europe, but part of the broader circumscription by Hultén (1961, 1964), which is treated here as the sixth subspecies.

U. Molau and D. F. Murray (1996) did not include subsp. scopulorum in their analysis, noting only that teeth are virtually absent on the galea of Pedicularis scopulorum. Presence or absence of apical teeth on the margins of the galea often distinguishes species in other Pedicularis taxa. Because teeth are sometimes present in this taxon, it is treated here as one of the five North American subspecies in the broad sense of P. sudetica. A recent molecular study confirms its close relationship to other members of the complex (B. W. Robart et al. 2015).

When comparing the two alternative taxonomies, the treatment by U. Molau and D. F. Murray (1996) is easier to apply. Close inspection of specimens identified as these species often reveals combinations of traits attributable to more than one taxon; Molau and Murray reported finding hybridization common between Pedicularis albolabiata and P. arctoeuropaea, and P. albolabiata and P. pacifica where habitats overlap, indicating that reproductive isolation is not complete. Recognition of these taxa as varieties may be more appropriate considering the broad geographic overlap where the few distinguishing features tend to intergrade. They are treated here, however, as subspecies. The following key is modified from Molau and Murray.

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

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

The basal and cauline leaves of Pedicularis semibarbata are distinctly one- or two-pinnatifid into deep pinnae and narrow subpinnae with serrate margins. The leaves and bracts far exceed the length of the inflorescence, often concealing it. Obvious spatulate, tan-colored, undivided, and membranous leaves are proximal to the divided basal leaves, but they are not as conspicuous as those of P. centranthera, a species with a similar growth form. Proximal floral bracts of P. semibarbata are similar to basal and cauline leaves, whereas in some specimens the distal bracts are spatulate and either once-divided or merely serrate at the apex. Surfaces of the corolla tube and sometimes the galea as well are hispid.

Pedicularis semibarbata grows under ponderosa pine, incense cedar, sugar pine, and white fir, primarily in the southern Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada, in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains of California, and the Mount Charleston region of Nevada.

The flowers of Pedicularis semibarbata in Yosemite National Park were pollinated only by Osmia tristella (L. W. Macior 1977).

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