Stillingia
Stillingia sylvatica
toothleaf
queen's-delight
solitary or fascicled, erect or ascending, mostly unbranched, (1–)2.5–7(–12) dm.
deciduous, alternate, opposite, or subopposite [whorled], simple;
stipules absent or present, persistent;
petiole absent or present, glands absent [small sessile gland at apex];
blade unlobed, margins entire, dentate, crenate, serrulate, or spinulose-dentate, laminar glands absent;
venation pinnate.
alternate;
stipules absent;
petiole 0–0.4(–0.8) cm;
blade ovate, elliptic, lanceolate, obovate, or oblanceolate, 1–10 × 0.5–-3 cm, base acute or broadly cuneate, margins serrulate to crenulate, teeth without prominent blackened tips, incurved, apex acute, obtuse or rounded;
midvein prominent, secondary veins ± obscure.
bisexual (pistillate flowers proximal, staminate distal), terminal, spikes or spikelike thyrses;
glands subtending each bract 2.
sessile or short-pedunculate, 3–9 cm;
staminate cymules ± crowded, 4–7-flowered;
pistillate flowers 3–4, crowded;
bracts broadly ovate, 1.5 × 2 mm, apex rounded or obtuse, glands patelliform, sessile, 1.5–2 mm diam.
absent.
sepals 2, imbricate, connate basally;
petals 0;
nectary absent;
stamens 2, connate basally;
pistillode absent.
calyx 1 mm.
sepals 0 or [2–]3, distinct;
petals 0;
nectary absent;
pistil [2–]3-carpellate;
styles 3 [rarely 2], connate proximally, unbranched.
sepals persistent, 3, well developed, elliptic;
styles connate 1/3 length, to 5 mm.
capsules base persisting as [2–]3-lobed gynobase, glabrous.
globose, 6–12 mm diam., shallowly 3-lobed;
lobes of gynobase 4–6 mm;
columella not persistent.
globose, ovoid, ellipsoid, or cylindric, ± flattened or depressed at hilar end;
outer seed coat dry;
caruncle absent or present.
light gray, short cylindric, 4.5 × 3 mm, rugose;
caruncle white, broadly crescent-shaped, 1–1.3 mm.
= 11.
Stillingia
Stillingia sylvatica
Species ca. 33 (7 in the flora).
Stillingia is distributed primarily in the warmer regions of the western hemisphere, with a major center of diversity extending from the southwestern United States through Mexico to northern Central America and another occupying the region of southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and Paraguay. Other New World species occur in Peru, southern Central America, and the southeastern United States. Outside of the western hemisphere, there are three species in Madagascar and one in Fiji. Among species in the flora area, only S. sylvatica is widespread, ranging throughout much of the southern United States from Virginia to New Mexico.
Stillingia is one of the more distinctive genera in the tribe Hippomaneae A. Jussieu ex Spach, which are generally characterized by the presence of white latex and by terminal or axillary spikelike inflorescences with one or more solitary basal pistillate flowers. Among these genera, Stillingia is distinguished by the presence of a gynobase, the hardened proximal portion of the ovary that remains as a 3-parted (or 2-parted in a few species outside the flora area) persistent base attached to the pedicel after dehiscence of the fruit. The circumscription of Stillingia has remained essentially unchanged since 1880, when Bentham first recognized the importance of the gynobase as the most important distinguishing character (D. J. Rogers 1951).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Throughout the range of Stillingia sylvatica, leaves vary widely in length/width ratio, though seldom on the same plant.
Some populations in southern Florida have been recognized as Stillingia tenuis or S. sylvatica subsp. tenuis on the basis of linear or narrowly linear-elliptic leaves and slender, reddish inflorescences. Leaf blades of the southern Florida populations vary from linear to broadly elliptic and the reddish cast of the inflorescence is characteristic of only some of these populations and also occurs in S. aquatica. D. J. Rogers (1951) and G. L. Webster (1967) suggested that the characteristics used to define S. tenuis may be the result of introgression of S. aquatica into S. sylvatica, and that the putative subsp. tenuis might be an ecotype of predominantly calcareous soils of southern Florida.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Staminate flowers in 3–15-flowered cymules; sepals of pistillate flowers 3, well developed, persistent; seeds with caruncles. | → 2 |
2. Shrubs with taproots. | S. aquatica |
2. Herbs or subshrubs with woody caudices or rhizomes. | → 3 |
3. Leaf blades ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate, to obovate or oblanceolate, teeth without prominent blackened tips, incurved; capsules 6–12 mm diam. | S. sylvatica |
3. Leaf blades linear to linear-lanceolate, teeth with prominent blackened tips, not incurved; capsules 6–8 mm diam. | S. texana |
1. Staminate flowers 1 per node; sepals of pistillate flowers 0 or 3, minute and fugacious; seeds with or without caruncles. | → 4 |
4. Leaf blades linear, margins entire or remotely minutely denticulate. | → 5 |
5. Pistillate flowers widely spaced; glands of pistillate bracts long-stalked; seeds without caruncles. | S. linearifolia |
5. Pistillate flowers crowded; glands of pistillate bracts sessile; seeds with minute caruncles. | S. paucidentata |
4. Leaf blades elliptic, elliptic-spatulate, or obovate-spatulate, margins spinulose-dentate. | → 6 |
6. Leaves opposite or subopposite, stipules absent, blade apices acuminate; inflorescences sessile, 1–1.2(–2) cm; glands of pistillate bracts long-stalked; seeds without caruncles. | S. spinulosa |
6. Leaves alternate, stipules present, blade apices rounded to obtuse; inflorescences pedunculate, 2.5–5 cm; glands of pistillate bracts ± sessile; seeds with minute caruncles. | S. treculiana |
CA
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