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mountain fringepod, narrow leaf lacepod

Photo is of parent taxon
Stems

1–6 dm.

Foliage

usually greenish, sometimes purplish basally.

Basal leaves

blade oblanceolate to elliptic, 1–6 cm, margins often pinnatifid with narrow lobes (lobes 0.5–1.5 mm), sometimes sinuate-dentate or subentire, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hirsute, trichomes whitish, 0.3–0.4 mm.

blade margins often pinnatifid, sometimes sinuate-dentate.

Cauline leaves

blade linear to narrowly elliptic, widest near middle or equally wide throughout, base not auriculate or with small, inconspicuous auricles (not extending around stem).

Racemes

internodes (1.5–)2–4.5 mm in fruit.

Fruiting pedicels

smoothly recurved or straight and stiffly spreading, (proximal) 3–6(–10) mm.

usually smoothly recurved, rarely nearly straight.

Fruit(s)

flat or plano-convex, obovate to nearly orbicular, (2.5–5 mm wide);

valves often glabrous, sometimes pubescent, trichomes clavate, 0.05–0.4 mm;

wing entire or deeply crenate, rays absent or indistinct.

valves usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent, trichomes clavate, 0.2–0.4 mm.

Thysanocarpus laciniatus

Thysanocarpus laciniatus var. laciniatus

Phenology Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Chaparral, rocky slopes, canyons, oak woodlands, washes
Elevation 200-1800 m (700-5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California)
Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

Thysanocarpus laciniatus presents some of the same problems as does T. curvipes. Variety laciniatus contains both diploids and tetraploids (M. D. Windham, unpubl.) and varies in fruit characters, pubescence, and basal leaf shape. Specimens with sinuate-dentate basal leaf margins and small auricles on cauline leaves can be difficult to distinguish from T. curvipes. Preliminary molecular phylogenetic analyses support the distinction between T. curvipes and T. laciniatus var. laciniatus, but suggest that tetraploid populations of the latter may have arisen through hybridization between T. curvipes and a diploid member of the T. laciniatus clade (P. Alexander, unpubl.). Varieties hitchcockii and rigidus are distinctive diploids (Windham, unpubl.) with restricted ranges and may deserve specific rank. Variety rigidus (known to us from only four collections) can be difficult to distinguish from the more purplish specimens of var. laciniatus, but the latter have at least some recurved pedicels and often have pinnatifid leaves.

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

Variety laciniatus is found in Arizona on the extreme western side of the state.

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

Key
1. Fruit valves pubescent, trichomes 0.05-0.1 mm.
var. hitchcockii
1. Fruit valves usually glabrous, or trichomes 0.2-0.4 mm
→ 2
2. Foliage usually greenish throughout, sometimes purplish basally; basal leaf blade margins pinnatifid or sinuate-dentate; fruiting pedicels smoothly recurved.
var. laciniatus
2. Foliage purplish throughout; basal leaf blade margins subentire to sinuate-dentate; fruiting pedicels straight or nearly so.
var. rigidus
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 740. FNA vol. 7, p. 741.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Thelypodieae > Thysanocarpus Brassicaceae > tribe Thelypodieae > Thysanocarpus > Thysanocarpus laciniatus
Sibling taxa
T. conchuliferus, T. curvipes, T. radians
T. laciniatus var. hitchcockii, T. laciniatus var. rigidus
Subordinate taxa
T. laciniatus var. hitchcockii, T. laciniatus var. laciniatus, T. laciniatus var. rigidus
Synonyms T. affinis, T. laciniatus var. affinis, T. laciniatus subsp. desertorum, T. laciniatus var. eremicola, T. laciniatus var. ramosus, T. ramosus
Name authority Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 118. (1838) unknown
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