Phemeranthus rugospermus |
Phemeranthus |
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prairie fameflower, rough-seed fameflower |
fameflower, flameflower |
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Habit | Plants to 2.5 dm; roots elongate, fleshily woody. | Herbs, perennial, caulescent (subscapose in P. humilis), glabrous. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Roots | sometimes tuberous, fleshy to woody. |
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Stems | ± erect, simple or sometimes branching. |
ascending to erect, simple or branching, sometimes suffrutescent. |
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Leaves | sessile; blade terete, to 6 cm. |
alternate or subopposite, sometimes subrosulate, petiolate or sessile, articulate at base, not clasping but sometimes with auriculate, membranous to chartaceous basal enations, attachment point round; blade terete, semiterete, or narrowly planate, 1–3 (10–20 in P. aurantiacus) mm wide, succulent (semisucculent in P. aurantiacus, P. sediformis, and P. spinescens). |
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Inflorescences | cymose, much overtopping leaves; peduncle scapelike, to 15 cm. |
lateral and/or terminal (lateral sometimes appearing terminal due to congestion of leaves on very short stems), cymose or cymulose, not appearing secund, few- to many-flowered, or flowers solitary and axillary; peduncle very short to elongate, sometimes scapelike. |
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Flowers | sepals deciduous, ovate, 4 mm; petals pink to magenta, ovate to obovate, sometimes mucronulate, 6.5–8 mm; stamens 12–28; stigmas 3, spreading widely, linear, 1/2–1/3 as long as styles. |
pedicellate (sometimes subsessile or sessile in P. parviflorus), each opening for 2–4 hours from afternoon to early evening of a single day, sometimes facultatively cleistogamous; sepals promptly deciduous after anthesis or persistent through capsule development, distinct; petals fugacious, 5 or rarely more, distinct or sometimes basally connate; stamens 4–many, distinct or with filaments basally shortly coherent in several clusters, anther 2-locular, oblong (subglobose in P. rugospermus); gynoecium 3[–5]-carpelled, placentention free-central; style 1 [absent]; stigmas 1 or 3[–5]. |
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Capsules | subglobose, 4 mm. |
longitudinally dehiscent from apex, 3-valved; valves deciduous, erect, exocarp and endocarp not evidently differentiated and not separating. |
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Seeds | without arcuate ridges, 1.2 mm, corrugate-rugulose overall. |
many, black or brown, ± compressed, with or without ± parallel, arcuate ridges, estrophiolate, circular-reniform, small; seed coat lustrous, smooth (corrugate-rugulose in P. rugospermus), covered with pale white or gray, thin, dull, fleshy to chartaceous pellicle. |
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x | = 12. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Phemeranthus rugospermus |
Phemeranthus |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Sand or sandy soils, dunes, mounds, flats, banks, ridges, edges of igneous or metamorphic rock outcrops, along or near watercourses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
IA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MN; NE; TX; WI
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North America; Central America; South America |
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Discussion | Within the overall area of its distribution, Phemeranthus rugospermus is nowhere abundant, its occurrence being everywhere spotty and localized. According to T. S. Cochrane (1993), the disjunctions probably reflect a history of long-distance dispersal from a center in the partially unglaciated Kansas and Nebraska sandhills, the present-day gaps resulting from a paucity of suitable habitats between that area and the others where it is now found. Even so, its discovery in Missouri, Arkansas, and/or Oklahoma would not be surprising. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species 25–30 (16 in the flora). C. S. Rafinesque (1814b) transferred Pursh’s Talinum teretifolium, which had been described earlier that year and was the only North American species then attributed to that primarily Old World genus, to the segregate genus Phemeranthus. Since then, though, most other authors have continued to recognize that species within Talinum, along with other similar and exclusively New World taxa described subsequently, as sect. Phemeranthus. However, a fairly strongly correlated set of differences in the leaf, pollen, fruit, and seed structures of these species compared with those of sect. Talinum, only two species of which are found in North America, supports their recognition at the generic level (R. Carolin 1987, 1993; M. A. Hershkovitz 1993). Complementary to the morphological evidence, recent molecular studies (M. A. Hershkovitz and E. A. Zimmer 1997, 2000; W. L. Applequist and R. S. Wallace 2001) indicate that Phemeranthus is phylogenetically distinct from Talinum. Positive identification of Phemeranthus specimens often requires examination of both flower and fruit, including seeds (with hand lens). Fortunately, the flowers develop successively and the capsules mature rapidly after anthesis, so both flowers and fruits will be present on a given plant during most of the reproductive season. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 494. | FNA vol. 4, p. 488. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Portulacaceae > Phemeranthus | Portulacaceae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Talinum rugospermum | Talinum section P. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Holzinger) Kiger: Novon 11: 320. (2001) | Rafinesque: Specchio Sci. 1: 86. (1814) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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