Flora of North America species comparison

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Sairocarpus virga

Sairocarpus

tall snapdragon, twig-like snapdragon

snapdragon
Habit Perennials. Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial.
Stems

40–220 cm, self-supporting, glabrous;

branches not twining.

erect [ascending or sprawling], filiform, twining branches often present, glabrous, hairy, or glandular-hairy.
Leaves

alternate;

blade linear, 50–120 × 3–10 mm, surfaces glabrous.

cauline, sometimes basal, opposite or alternate proximally, alternate distally;

petiole present or absent;

blade linear to oblanceolate, not fleshy, not leathery, margins entire.
Inflorescences

terminal, racemes.

terminal or axillary, racemes or flowers solitary;

bracts present or absent.
Pedicels

2–6 mm.

1–25(–30) mm;

bracteoles absent.
Flowers

chasmogamous;

calyx lobes equal, glabrous, adaxial lobe 6–8 × 1.5–2.5 mm;

corolla pink to pale pink, 13–18 mm, base gibbous, mouth 3–5 mm diam., palate not veined, rounded, 5–7.5 mm diam., puberulent.

bisexual, cleistogamous or chasmogamous;

sepals 5, basally connate, calyx bilaterally symmetric, tubular or cupulate, lobes ovate to lanceolate, shorter or as long as corolla tube in flower, adaxial largest, glabrous or hairy to glandular-hairy;

corolla white to purple, pink, red, or tan, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate and personate, tubular, 5.5–18 mm, tube base usually gibbous, not spurred (not gibbous, spurred in S. cornutus), lobes 5, abaxial 3, adaxial 2;

stamens 4, basally adnate to corolla, didynamous, filaments glabrous or glandular-hairy, pollen sacs 2 per filament;

staminode 0;

ovary 2-locular, placentation axile;

stigma punctiform.
Fruits

capsules, 2.5–11 mm, locules unequal, dehiscence poricidal.
Capsules

globular-ovoid, 7–9 mm, glabrous, abaxial locule with 2 pores.

Seeds

black, 1–1.5 mm, ridges reticulate.

5–40, brown to black, ovoid to oblong, wings absent.
x

= 8.
2n

= 32.

Sairocarpus virga

Sairocarpus
Phenology Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Openings in chaparral, rocky areas, often on serpentine.
Elevation 200–2000 m. (700–6600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w United States; n Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Stems of Sairocarpus virga regrow quickly after fires (D. M. Thompson 1988).

Sairocarpus virga is known from the southern High and Inner North Coast ranges.

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

Species 12 (9 in the flora).

Sairocarpus is sometimes treated as a subgenus of Antirrhinum (D. M. Thompson 1988; M. Wetherwax and Thompson 2012). For a discussion of the generic segregates, see 2. Antirrhinum.

Sairocarpus is a New World genus distinguished from the Old World Antirrhinum by its smaller flowers, disjunct distribution, and base chromosome number x = 8 following R. K. Oyama and D. A. Baum (2004) and P. Vargas et al. (2004). Additional study of generic limits may be warranted since more complete ITS sampling, including all Sairocarpus species in the flora area (M. Fernández-Mazuecos et al. 2013), revealed that Sairocarpus is polyphyletic if Gambelia, Howelliella, Mohavea, and Neogaerrhinum are recognized. Other New World-only segregates of Antirrhinum are Gambelia, Howelliella, Mohavea, Neogaerrhinum, and Pseudorontium; they can be distinguished from Sairocarpus by their fruits with equal locules. Plants of Mohavea and Pseudorontium also have distinctive, winged seeds.

Some species of Sairocarpus have filiform, twining branches, usually on the distal parts of the stems. These branches wrap around nearby objects giving additional support to these weak-stemmed plants.

Cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers are produced in some species of Sairocarpus. The cleistogamous flowers usually form early in the season and are smaller and paler than the chasmogamous flowers. In species with twining branches, cleistogamous flowers are usually borne close to the main stem. Fruits from cleistogamous flowers are usually smaller and have fewer seeds than those from chasmogamous flowers. Only chasmogamous flowers are described below.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Calyx lobes unequal.
→ 2
2. Stems viscid; branches not twining; plants annuals or perennials; corollas pale pink to red.
S. multiflorus
2. Stems not viscid; branches twining; plants annuals; corollas white to tan or light purple.
→ 3
3. Corollas 5.5–7 mm; leaf blades elliptic to linear.
S. kingii
3. Corollas 8–17 mm; leaf blades ovate to narrowly elliptic.
→ 4
4. Corollas white to tan, not veined; stems hairy.
S. subcordatus
4. Corollas light purple to white, often dark-veined; stems glabrous or glandular-hairy.
S. vexillocalyculatus
1. Calyx lobes equal to subequal.
→ 5
5. Stems glandular-hairy.
→ 6
6. Leaf blades linear to oblanceolate; stems self-supporting; branches not twining; capsules: abaxial locules indehiscent or with 1 pore.
S. cornutus
6. Leaf blades ovate; stems not self-supporting; branches twining; capsules: abaxial locules with 1 pore.
S. nuttallianus
5. Stems glabrous, or basally hairy and otherwise glabrous.
→ 7
7. Branches not twining; capsules: abaxial locules with 2 pores; plants perennials; corollas pink to pale pink.
S. virga
7. Branches twining; capsules: abaxial locules indehiscent or with 1 pore; plants annuals; corollas white to light purple.
→ 8
8. Inflorescences racemes; pedicels 1–5 mm; corolla palates purple-spotted.
S. coulterianus
8. Inflorescences flowers solitary; pedicels 4–25(–30) mm; corolla palates purple-veined.
S. watsonii
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 48. FNA vol. 17, p. 43. Author: Kerry A. Barringer.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae > Sairocarpus Plantaginaceae
Sibling taxa
S. cornutus, S. coulterianus, S. kingii, S. multiflorus, S. nuttallianus, S. subcordatus, S. vexillocalyculatus, S. watsonii
Subordinate taxa
S. cornutus, S. coulterianus, S. kingii, S. multiflorus, S. nuttallianus, S. subcordatus, S. vexillocalyculatus, S. virga, S. watsonii
Synonyms Antirrhinum virga
Name authority (A. Gray) D. A. Sutton: Revis. Antirrhineae, 466. (1988) D. A. Sutton: Revis. Antirrhineae, 461, figs. 123–125, 126.1, 126.2, 126.4. (1988)
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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