Tragia amblyodonta
Tragia nepetifolia
blunt-tooth noseburn, dog-tooth noseburn
catnip noseburn
erect to trailing, gray-green, apex often flexuous.
erect to trailing, green to reddish green, apex never flexuous.
petiole 4–20(–30) mm;
blade usually triangular to subhastate, sometimes ovate, 1–4.5 × 0.8–3 cm, base cordate, hastate, or truncate, margins crenate to serrate, apex acute to obtuse.
petiole 3–25(–41) mm;
blade triangular to ovate [linear], proximal broadly ovate to sometimes suborbiculate, 1.8–5 × 0.9–3.6 cm, often red-green, base truncate to cordate, margins coarsely dentate to coarsely serrate, apex acute.
terminal or axillary, glands absent, staminate flowers 5–16 per raceme;
staminate bracts 0.9–2 mm.
terminal (often appearing leaf opposed), glands sessile or absent, staminate flowers 8–40 per raceme, distally clustered [evenly distributed];
staminate bracts 1.3–1.6 mm.
staminate 0.7–1.2 mm, persistent base 0.2–0.8 mm;
pistillate 1.5–4 mm in fruit.
staminate 1.4–1.7 mm, persistent base 0.5–0.7 mm;
pistillate 2.9–3.3 mm in fruit.
sepals 3–4, green, 0.9–1.2 mm;
stamens 3–4, filaments 0.2–0.7 mm.
sepals 3–4, reddish green, 1–2 mm;
stamens 3–4, filaments 0.3–0.6 mm.
sepals lanceolate, 1–2.5 mm;
styles connate to 1/3 length, short-exserted;
stigmas undulate to subpapillate.
sepals lanceolate [ovate], 1.4–2.3 mm;
styles connate 1/4–1/3 length;
stigmas papillate.
7–8 mm wide.
6–8 mm wide.
brown with tan mottling, 2.5–3.5 mm.
brownish black, 3–4 mm.
= 110.
Tragia amblyodonta
Tragia nepetifolia
Tragia amblyodonta is easily distinguished from other members of Tragia by the combination of usually triangular to subhastate leaf blades, gray-green coloration, and painfully stinging hairs. Both stomata diameter and pollen grain size of T. amblyodonta are larger than in any other North American species of Tragia (K. I. Miller and G. L. Webster 1967).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Tragia nepetifolia is typically found at high elevations in Mexico and the southwestern United States. Since it was described more than 200 years ago, many collections of Tragia in Mexico and the United States have been identified mistakenly as this species.
Tragia nepetifolia includes four varieties in Mexico, but none match plants occurring in the United States. These most closely resemble var. dissecta Müller Arg. of western Mexico, sharing inflorescences with distally clustered staminate flowers and a tendency toward reddish coloration, but differing in that their leaf blades are not as deeply toothed.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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