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Okanagan fameflower, Okanogan fameflower, Okanogan talinum

orange fameflower

Habit Plants to 1 dm; roots elongate, fleshily woody. Plants to 5 dm; roots woody-tuberous.
Stems

spreading to ascending, branching, bearing ± persistent, arcuate, bristlelike, less than 5 mm, proximal portions of midribs of old leaves, suffrutescent.

erect, simple or branching, slender to stout, sometimes suffrutescent.

Leaves

sessile;

blade subterete, to 1.2 cm, base attenuate.

subsessile;

blade narrowly planate, linear to narrowly lanceolate or rarely oblanceolate, to 6 cm, base attenuate.

Inflorescences

cymose, overtopping leaves;

peduncle somewhat scapelike or not, to 5 cm.

flowers usually solitary, sometimes in 2–3-flowered cymules.

Flowers

sepals deciduous, ovate, to 4 mm;

petals white, sometimes tinged pink or pale yellow, obovate to suborbiculate, to 8 mm;

stamens 15;

stigma 1, subcapitate.

sepals deciduous, ovate, sometimes cuspidate, 5–10 mm;

petals yellow or orange, sometimes reddish, rarely pinkish, obovate, 9–15(–25) mm;

stamens usually 20–30;

stigmas 3, linear;

pedicel often recurving in fruit.

Capsules

subglobose, trigonous, to 4 mm.

ovoid to globose, 4–7 mm.

Seeds

without arcuate ridges, 1 mm.

with arcuate ridges, 1.2(–1.7) mm.

Phemeranthus sediformis

Phemeranthus aurantiacus

Phenology Flowering May–Jul. Flowering Apr–Nov.
Habitat Slopes, ledges, rocky soil Washes, ravines, flats, dunes, slopes, benches, bluffs, ledges, often in grassland, scrub, or chaparral, sometimes along roadsides or in other disturbed sites, in sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils
Elevation 1000-2000 m (3300-6600 ft) 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Phemeranthus sediformis is poorly known and merits further study in the field and better representation in herbaria. When its characters and their ranges of variation are better known, it may prove to be indistinct from P. spinescens.

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

A cladistic analysis of chloroplast ndhF sequence data (W. L. Applequist and R. S. Wallace 2001) indicated that Phemeranthus aurantiacus belongs in the same clade as Talinum paniculatum (Jacquin) Gaertner and the two other species of that genus that were sampled, rather than in a separate and rather distant clade containing P. mengesii, the only other species of Phemeranthus included in the study. The molecular evidence, together with the planate leaves and extended stem of P. aurantiacus, which are anomalous in Phemeranthus, suggest that perhaps this species should be restored to Talinum. However, in fruit and seed characters, the chief morphological bases on which Talinum and Phemeranthus are distinguished, P. aurantiacus clearly belongs in the latter.

Talinum angustissimum often has been held separate from Phemeranthus aurantiacus (T. aurantiacum), but the supposed distinctions break down in a continuum of intergradation, the other extreme of which was described as T. whitei. The former extreme, centered in southern Arizona, has yellow petals, very narrow leaves, slender stems, and small, globose capsules; the latter, centered in southern Chihuahua and northern Durango, has orange to reddish petals, broad leaves, stout stems, and large, ovoid capsules. The name T. lineare Kunth, which properly applies to a species from central Mexico, has been misapplied to some collections of P. aurantiacus from Texas.

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

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 494. FNA vol. 4, p. 491.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Phemeranthus Portulacaceae > Phemeranthus
Sibling taxa
P. aurantiacus, P. brevicaulis, P. brevifolius, P. calcaricus, P. calycinus, P. humilis, P. longipes, P. marginatus, P. mengesii, P. parviflorus, P. rugospermus, P. spinescens, P. teretifolius, P. thompsonii, P. validulus
P. brevicaulis, P. brevifolius, P. calcaricus, P. calycinus, P. humilis, P. longipes, P. marginatus, P. mengesii, P. parviflorus, P. rugospermus, P. sediformis, P. spinescens, P. teretifolius, P. thompsonii, P. validulus
Synonyms Talinum sediforme, Talinum okanoganense, Talinum wayae Talinum aurantiacum, Talinum angustissimum, Talinum aurantiacum var. angustissimum, Talinum whitei
Name authority (Poellnitz) Kiger: Novon 11: 320. (2001) (Engelmann) Kiger: Novon 11: 319. (2001)
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