Flora of North America species comparison

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Taraxia

Taraxia ovata

golden eggs

golden eggs, sun cup
Habit Herbs, fleshy perennial, acaulescent; with thick or slender, sometimes woody taproot, sometimes branched and then usually producing new rosettes. Herbs densely, sometimes sparsely, short-hirsute, especially on leaf blade margins and ± veins; taproot thick, often branched in age, producing new rosettes.
Leaves

in a basal rosette;

stipules absent;

petiolate;

blade margins subentire to deeply sinuate or pinnatifid.

3–15 × 1.6–5 cm;

petiole narrowly winged, 0.8–15 cm, base slightly dilated;

blade ovate to very narrowly elliptic, base attenuate, margins usually subentire to shallowly sinuate or crisped, rarely deeply sinuate, apex acute to acuminate.
Inflorescences

solitary flowers in leaf axils.

Flowers

bisexual, actinomorphic, buds erect;

floral tube deciduous (with sepals, petals, and stamens) after anthesis, with fleshy basal nectary;

sepals 4, reflexed separately;

petals 4, usually yellow, rarely white, without spots, usually fading orange, strongly ultraviolet reflective, or sometimes not reflective near base;

stamens 8, in 2 unequal series, anthers basifixed, pollen shed singly;

ovary 4-locular, with a long, slender, sterile apical projection proximal to opening of floral tube, projection without visible abscission lines at its junctures with floral tube or fertile part of ovary, stigma entire or irregularly lobed, globose, surface unknown, probably wet and non-papillate.

opening near sunrise;

floral tube 2–3 mm, with short, matted hairs inside near base;

sepals 11–19 mm;

petals usually yellow, rarely white, 8–23 mm; episepalous staminal filaments 3.5–8 mm, epipetalous ones 2–6 mm, anthers 3–5 mm;

sterile prolongation of ovary 25–180 mm, style 4.5–11 mm, shortly pubescent near base, stigma exserted slightly beyond anthers at anthesis.
Fruit

a capsule, straight or slightly irregularly curved, subterete to 4-angled, cylindric-lanceoloid or -ovoid, or oblong-ellipsoid, irregularly loculicidal, gradually tapering into a slender, sterile portion (4–)15–180 mm, sometimes persistent 1+ years, often blackened, thin- or thick-walled;

subsessile.

Capsules

subterete, cylindric-lanceoloid, 11–30 × 3–5 mm, walls thin, much distended by seeds; rarely with pedicel to 0.4 mm.
Seeds

numerous, in 2 rows per locule, pitted or coarsely papillose.

uniformly brown, elongate-ovoid, 1.8–2.2 × 1.2–1.4 mm, densely and coarsely papillose.
xI> = 7.

2n

= 14.

Taraxia

Taraxia ovata
Phenology Flowering Feb–May.
Habitat Grassy fields, clay soil, usually near coast.
Elevation 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.)
Distribution
w North America
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 4 (4 in the flora).

Taraxia is known from the western United States and southwestern Canada in open, moist clay or sandy sites, usually at low to middle elevations. Taraxia is characterized by its acaulescent habit, seeds in two rows per locule in unwinged, irregularly dehiscent capsules, and notably by having a relatively long, slender, sterile projection at the apex of the ovary that persists on the mature capsule after the floral tube and perianth detach.

This distinctive group of species has been treated variously as a subgenus or section of Oenothera (J. Torrey and A. Gray 1838–1843, vol. 1; P. A. Munz 1965), as a section of Camissonia (P. H. Raven 1969), or as a separate genus (J. K. Small 1896). Traditionally, the two acaulescent annual species now viewed as composing the genus Tetrapteron, which share with Taraxia a sterile apical projection on the ovary, have been included in this group (R. Raimann 1893; Raven 1969). Munz (1965) included the six species in his Oenothera subg. Heterostemon, but separated the four perennials (as sect. Heterostemon) from the two annuals (as sect. Tetrapteron). On the basis of additional information, W. L. Wagner et al. (2007) recognized the two annual species as the genus Tetrapteron. R. A. Levin et al. (2004) found strong molecular support for Taraxia on a weakly supported branch sister to Clarkia + Gayophytum + Chylismiella, whereas the two annual species are strongly monophyletic on a weakly supported branch with Camissoniopsis and Neoholmgrenia. Even though the molecular support for the clade of Clarkia + Gayophytum + Chylismiella + Taraxia is weak, this group of genera shares the feature of basifixed anthers, unlike the versatile anthers of all other genera of tribe Onagreae. P. H. Raven (1964) first pointed out that the basifixed anthers in Taraxia are similar to those found in Clarkia. Species of Taraxia are sometimes grown as ornamentals in rock gardens. Reproductive features include: self-incompatible, flowers diurnal, outcrossing, and pollinated by small bees [T. ovata (E. G. Linsley et al. 1973), T. tanacetifolia (Linsley et al. 1963b)] or facultatively autogamous [T. breviflora, T. subacaulis (Raven 1969)].

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

Taraxia ovata occurs in counties near the coast and is found in Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino counties south to the vicinity of Monterey Bay, Monterey County, and again south of the Santa Lucia Mountains in northern San Luis Obispo County, California, and Douglas and Josephine counties in Oregon. It has no close relatives in the genus (P. H. Raven 1969), an assertion supported by its early branching in molecular analyses (R. A. Levin et al. 2004; W. L. Wagner et al. 2007). The species is self-incompatible and pollinated by the oligolectic bee Andrena (Diandrena) chalybea (Cresson) (Raven).

Oenothera primuloidea H. Léveillé is an illegitimate, superfluous name that pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaf blade margins usually subentire to sinuate or crisped, sometimes irregularly sinuate-lobed toward base, rarely pinnatifid; herbs sparsely to densely short-hirsute or strigillose, especially on leaf blade margins and ± veins.
→ 2
2. Leaf blades usually densely short-hirsute on margins and ± veins, sometimes sparsely so; capsules subterete, walls much distended by seeds.
T. ovata
2. Leaf blades glabrate, veins and margins rarely sparsely strigillose; capsules 4-angled, walls nearly flat, not noticeably distended by seeds.
T. subacaulis
1. Leaf blade margins pinnatifid; herbs usually sparsely to densely strigillose or short-hirtellous, hairs spreading or appressed.
→ 3
3. Styles 9.5–20(–25) mm; stigmas exserted beyond anthers at anthesis; petals (8–)10–23 mm; herbs densely or, sometimes, sparsely short-hirtellous and/or strigillose.
T. tanacetifolia
3. Styles 3–6.5 mm; stigmas surrounded by anthers at anthesis; petals 5–7(–9) mm; herbs densely to sparsely strigillose, sometimes also appressed-hirtellous, hairs spreading or appressed.
T. breviflora
Source FNA vol. 10. Author: Warren L. Wagner. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Taraxia
Sibling taxa
T. breviflora, T. subacaulis, T. tanacetifolia
Subordinate taxa
T. breviflora, T. ovata, T. subacaulis, T. tanacetifolia
Synonyms Oenothera, Oenothera section heterostemon, Oenothera subg. heterostemon, Oenothera, Oenothera subg. taraxia Oenothera ovata, Camissonia ovata
Name authority (Torrey & A. Gray) Nuttall ex Raimann in H. G. A. Engler and K. Prantl: Nat. Pflanzenfam. 96[III,7]: 216. (1893) (Nuttall) Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 23: 185. (1896)
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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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