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

Arizona rosewood

Photo is of parent taxon

Sonora rosewood

Habit Shrubs or trees, rounded to ovoid, 10–50(–80) dm, usually multistemmed.
Young stems

densely white-tomentulose, becoming canescent.

Leaves

petiole (1.5–)4–16(–26) mm;

blade usually bicolor, sometimes green or yellow-green, oblong-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear, (2.2–)3–11(–15) × (0.6–)0.7–2(–3.2) cm, base obliquely cuneate to rounded, margins serrulate or crenulate, teeth 10–35(–50) per 5 cm, 0.1–0.5(–1.5) mm, apex acute, mostly mucronate, surfaces closely villous-tomentulose, abaxially more densely so, or glabrate or tardily glabrescent (some remaining crinkled hairs).

petiole (4–)6–16(–22) mm;

blade bicolor, abaxially white, adaxially green and nonlustrous, linear to linear-lanceolate, (2.5–)5–11(–15) × (0.6–)0.7–1.2(–1.4) cm, surfaces villous-tomentulose, soon or tardily glabrescent except for hairy midveins.

Flowers

hypanthium 1.5–2.5(–3) × 2–3.7(–4.5) mm, tomentose to sparsely tomentulose or glabrate;

sepals 1.1–2.2 × 1.4–2.3 mm, margins eglandular;

petals oblong-ovate, 3.4–5.4 × 2.4–3.5 mm;

filaments 2.5–6 mm.

hypanthium 2–2.5 × 3–3.5 mm, exterior white villous-tomentulose, interior glabrous except at base;

sepals 1.3–1.8 × 1.6–2 mm, villous-tomentulose;

petals 4–5 × 2.4–3 mm;

filaments 3–5 mm.

Capsules

4.5–6.5 × 3.5–4.5 mm.

5–6 × 3.5–4 mm.

Seeds

3.5–5 × 0.9–1.4 mm.

3.5–4 × 0.9–1.2 mm.

Corymbs

1.5–5(–12) × 1.7–8(–13) cm, tomentulose, sometimes sparsely hairy or glabrate.

1.5–4.5 × 2–6.5 cm, villous to tomentulose.

Vauquelinia californica

Vauquelinia californica subsp. sonorensis

Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Canyon margins and hillsides of the Sonoran Desert
Elevation 700–1500 m (2300–4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; Mexico (Baja California)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 4 (3 in the flora).

Subspecies retherfordii (I. M. Johnston) W. J. Hess & Henrickson is known from Coahuila and Durango in northern Mexico.

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

Subspecies sonorensis is known from the Ajo Mountains in Pima County. Some plants from the Baboquivari Mountains of Pima County have somewhat similar narrow leaves but lack the dense vestiture on stems, inflorescences, and abaxial leaf surfaces.

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

Key
1. Leaves green or yellow-green, glabrate or puberulent along midveins.
subsp. pauciflora
1. Leaves bicolor, abaxially white-puberulent or villous-tomentulose (or tardily glabrescent in plants of c Arizona), adaxially green
→ 2
2. Leaf blades lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, (0.7–)1–2(–3.2) cm wide, usually abaxially sparsely white-puberulent, sometimes glabrate or glabrous.
subsp. californica
2. Leaf blades linear to linear-lanceolate, (0.6–)0.7–1.2(–1.4) cm wide, abaxially villous-tomentulose, soon or tardily glabrescent except for hairy midveins.
subsp. sonorensis
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 430. FNA vol. 9, p. 431.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Vauquelinia Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Vauquelinia > Vauquelinia californica
Sibling taxa
V. corymbosa
V. californica subsp. californica, V. californica subsp. pauciflora
Subordinate taxa
V. californica subsp. californica, V. californica subsp. pauciflora, V. californica subsp. sonorensis
Synonyms Spiraea californica
Name authority (Torrey) Sargent: Gard. & Forest 2: 400. (1889) W. J. Hess & Henrickson: Sida 12: 130, figs. 11a–c. (1987)
Web links