Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Stemodia

twintip
Habit Herbs [suffruticose herbs], annual or perennial.
Stems

erect, ascending, decumbent, or prostrate, hairy [glabrous].
Leaves

cauline, opposite or whorled;

petiole absent [present];

blade not fleshy, not leathery, margins serrate or denticulate.
Inflorescences

terminal or axillary, spikes, racemes, or flowers solitary;

bracts present or absent.
Pedicels

present or absent;

bracteoles smaller than calyx lobes, not surrounding calyx of flower they subtend.
Flowers

bisexual;

sepals 5, basally connate, calyx bilaterally symmetric [radially symmetric], tubular, lobes narrowly lanceolate to narrowly triangular, outer lobes ± as wide as inner;

corolla blue-purple, lavender, or white, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate, tubular, tube base not spurred or gibbous, lobes 5, abaxial 3, adaxial 2;

stamens 4, proximally adnate to corolla, didynamous, filaments glabrous [hairy];

staminode 0 or 1, short-cylindric [filiform];

ovary 2-locular, placentation axile;

stigma capitate, 2-lobed.
Fruits

capsules, dehiscence loculicidal, 4-valved.
Seeds

10–150, light brown [black], ovoid or ellipsoid, wings absent.

Stemodia
Distribution
from USDA
Mexico; Central America; South America; s United States; West Indies; Asia; Africa; Australia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 52 (3 in the flora).

Stemodia is closely allied to Leucospora, Limnophila, and Schistophragma in Gratioleae. D. Estes and R. L. Small (2008) found Stemodia to be paraphyletic as now delimited. Of the species in the flora area, only S. schottii was sampled; it appears to be in the cluster containing S. maritima Linnaeus, the type of the genus.

Species of Stemodia can resemble other small-flowered Plantaginaceae but always can be distinguished by their distinct anther cells, their ovoid, loculicidal, four-valved capsules, and their parallel-ridged seeds. Schistophragma has pinnately lobed leaf blade margins, narrowly cylindric, septicidal fruits, and spirally ridged seeds. Leucospora is distinguished by its pinnatifid to bipinnatifid leaf blade margins, pedicels without bracteoles, and septicidal capsules. Limnophila grows in mud or shallow water and has pinnatifid blade margins of submersed leaves.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaf blade surfaces densely white-tomentose, bases not auriculate or clasping.
S. lanata
1. Leaf blade surfaces sparsely hairy or sparsely glandular-hairy, bases auriculate or clasping.
→ 2
2. Inflorescences terminal, spikes, racemes, or flowers 1–4 per axil; corollas 5–8 mm.
S. durantifolia
2. Inflorescences axillary, flowers 1 or 2 per axil; corollas 10–13 mm.
S. schottii
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 279. Author: Kerry A. Barringer.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae
Subordinate taxa
S. durantifolia, S. lanata, S. schottii
Name authority Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1091, 1118, 1374. (1759) — name conserved
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers