Flora of North America species comparison

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Smelowskia

Smelowskia americana

candytuft, false candytuft, smelowskia

alpine smelowskia, American false candytuft, Siberian smelowskia
Habit Plants cespitose, caudex well-developed, thick, often-branched, covered with persistent petiolar remains; not scapose; usually pubescent. Plants sometimes canescent basally; caudex branched.
Stems

erect to decumbent, unbranched or branched distally, densely pubescent.

several from base, often unbranched, (0.4–)0.6–2(–2.7) dm, trichomes simple, 0.5–1.3 mm, mixed with smaller, dendritic ones.
Leaves

basal and cauline;

petiolate or sessile;

basal rosulate, petiolate, blade margins usually 1- or 2-pinnatisect, rarely entire.

Basal leaves

petiole 1–5(–8) cm, ciliate, trichomes simple;

blade oblanceolate to obovate, or ovate to oblong in outline, (terminal segments linear, oblong, or ovate), (0.5–)1–3.5(–5.2) cm × 4–17 mm, (terminal segments 0.2–1.4 cm × 0.5–4 mm), margins 1- or 2-pinnatifid or -pinnatisect, apex obtuse or subacute.
Cauline leaves

shortly petiolate or sessile;

blade similar to basal, smaller distally.
Racemes

(corymbose, several-flowered), often considerably elongated in fruit.

elongated in fruit.
Flowers

sepals (sometimes persistent), oblong [ovate];

petals spatulate to obovate or suborbicular, (longer than sepals), claw differentiated from blade, (apex rounded);

stamens slightly tetradynamous;

filaments often dilated basally;

anthers ovate or oblong, (apex obtuse);

nectar glands usually confluent, subtending bases of stamens, median glands present or not.

sepals 2–3.5 mm;

petals usually white, rarely pinkish or lavender, suborbicular to obovate, 3.5–6.5 × 1.5–3.5mm, narrowed to claw, 1.5–3 mm, apex rounded;

anthers oblong, 0.5–0.7 mm.
Fruiting pedicels

ascending, spreading, suberect, or divaricate [recurved], slender.

suberect to ascending, (subappressed to rachis, often forming less than 40˚ angle), proximalmost bracteate, 4–10(–14) mm, pubescent, trichomes simple (to 1.5 mm), mixed with smaller, dendritic ones.
Fruits

siliques or silicles, usually sessile, rarely shortly stipitate, linear, oblong, obovoid, ellipsoid, spatulate, oblanceolate, suboblong, or pyriform [fusiform, ovoid, suborbicular], smooth, 4-angled, angustiseptate, terete, or subterete [latiseptate];

valves each with prominent or obscure midvein, usually glabrous;

replum rounded;

septum complete or perforated;

ovules 4–18 per ovary;

stigma capitate.

usually suberect, rarely ascending, ellipsoid or oblong to linear, 4-angled, 5–13 × 1.5–2 mm, base and apex cuneate;

valves each with prominent midvein;

ovules 8–12(–14) per ovary;

style 0.2–0.8 mm.
Seeds

plump, not winged, usually oblong, rarely oblong-lanceolate;

seed coat (minutely reticulate), not mucilaginous when wetted;

cotyledons incumbent or accumbent.

1.1–1.9 × 0.6–0.9 mm.
2n

= 12, 22.

Smelowskia

Smelowskia americana
Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Talus and scree slopes, rock crevices, tundra, alpine meadows, fellfields
Elevation 2900-4000 m (9500-13100 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
North America; e Asia; c Asia
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 25 (7 in the flora).

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

Both R. C. Rollins (1993) and N. H. Holmgren (2005b) listed 2n = 44 for Smelowskia americana (as S. calycina var. americana), but no such number is known for any species of the genus (S. I. Warwick and I. A. Al-Shehbaz 2006). It is most likely that the first two authors erred in reporting 2n = 22 for the species. The latter count is likely to represent a dysploid reduction of tetraploid populations based on x = 6.

Previous North American authors (e.g., W. H. Drury Jr. and R. C. Rollins 1952; Rollins 1993; N. H. Holmgren 2005b) believed that the central Asian Smelowskia calycina and the North American plants also attributed to it are conspecific. S. I. Warwick et al. (2004b) clearly demonstrated that they are different species. The North American plants, S. americana, are easily distinguished from S. calycina by having readily caducous instead of persistent calyces. As recognized by Rollins (1993), the North American S. calycina represented three distinct taxa (S. americana, S. media, S. porsildii) none of which belongs to that species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Basal leaves: blade margins entire, apically 3 or 5-toothed or -lobed, or palmately lobed
→ 2
1. Basal leaves: blade margins 1- or 2-pinnatisect or pinnatifid
→ 4
2. Basal leaves: blade margins deeply palmately (3 or) 5 (or 7)-lobed; fruiting pedicels secund; sepals usually persistent; fruits angustiseptate, (8-)12-28 × 4-8 mm; ovules 10-18 per ovary.
S. borealis
2. Basal leaves: blade margins entire or apically 3 or 5-toothed or -lobed; fruiting pedicels not secund; sepals caducous; fruits subterete or slightly 4-angled, 5-10 × 1.5-3 mm; ovules 4-8 per ovary
→ 3
3. Basal leaf blade surfaces densely silvery villous, trichomes mostly simple, 1-1.8 mm; petals lavender to purplish; fruiting pedicels 11-27 mm; fruit valves each with obscure midvein; ovules 4 per ovary; seeds 2.2-2.7 mm.
S. johnsonii
3. Basal leaf blade surfaces densely grayish tomentose, trichomes mostly dendritic with fewer simple ones, to 1 mm; petals white or creamy white; fruiting pedicels 4-12 mm; fruit valves each with prominent midvein; ovules 4-8 per ovary; seeds 1.5-2 mm.
S. porsildii
4. Sepals persistent; fruits 2-6 mm, bases obtuse, valves each with obscure midvein.
S. ovalis
4. Sepals caducous; fruits 5-13 mm, bases cuneate, valves each with prominent midvein
→ 5
5. Fruits pyriform, subterete, apices rounded; ovules 4 per ovary; seeds 2.5-3.2 × 1-1.5 mm.
S. pyriformis
5. Fruits fusiform, ellipsoid, oblong, or linear, 4-angled, apices cuneate; ovules 8-12 (-14) per ovary; seeds 1.1-2.2 × 0.6-1.1 mm
→ 6
6. Fruiting pedicels suberect to ascending, subappressed to rachises, forming less than 40˚ angle; seeds 1.1-1.9 × 0.6-0.9 mm; Alberta, British Columbia, Mountain and Pacific states.
S. americana
6. Fruiting pedicels usually spreading to divaricate, rarely divaricate-ascending, not appressed to rachises, often forming greater than 40˚ angle; seeds 1.7-2.2 × 0.9-1.1 mm; Alaska, Northwest Territories, Yukon.
S. media
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 671. Author: Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz. FNA vol. 7, p. 672.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Smelowskieae Brassicaceae > tribe Smelowskieae > Smelowskia
Sibling taxa
S. borealis, S. johnsonii, S. media, S. ovalis, S. porsildii, S. pyriformis
Subordinate taxa
S. americana, S. borealis, S. johnsonii, S. media, S. ovalis, S. porsildii, S. pyriformis
Synonyms Acroschizocarpus, Ermania, Melanidion Hutchinsia calycina var. americana, S. calycina var. americana, S. lineariloba, S. lobata
Name authority C. A. Meyer: in C. F. von Ledebour, Icon. Pl. 2: 17, plate 151. (1830) Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 29: 239. (1902)
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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