Flora of North America species comparison

W. Herbert (1837) suggested that Zephyranthes candida might belong in a segregate genus, and within ten years Rafinesque and M. Roemer each separated it from Zephyranthes. Its leaves are about twice as thick as those of other species in the genus, and they persist through winter frosts and snow, a rare, if not unique, characteristic in Zephyranthes. The stigmatic lobes are not globose, as in Z. chlorosolen, but are somewhat erect and might be described as very abbreviated linear lobes; a careful study of fresh stigmas of “capitate” species is in order. Also, the chromosome complement of Z. candida appears to be anomalous within Zephyranthes. The species has been maintained in Zephyranthes for more than a century, but were Herbert, Rafinesque, and Roemer correct after all?

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

Species ca. 70 (16 in the flora).

In Zephyranthes, the degree of fusion of the perianth into a tube is reflected in flower form, filament length, staminal position, and the opening of the bud. Flowers with much-abbreviated perianth tubes are subrotate; with increasing degrees of perianth fusion, flower form shifts from subrotate to funnelform to salverform. The more the perianth is fused, the shorter the filaments in relative length. The longer the perianth tube, the less the stamens diverge, to the point of fasciculation. The timing of the opening of the bud and the expansion of the flower runs across this morphological spectrum from early morning (shortest tubes) through the day to the evening (longest tubes).

The phylogeny of Zephyranthes is not well understood. The species with long perianth tubes and fasciculate stamens are sometimes segregated in the genus Cooperia. While there is considerable diversity within Zephyranthes, splitting the genus into two genera by the degree of fusion of the perianth tube does not fit well with the continuity of the morphological spectrum and with the apparent hybrid origins of species in Texas and Mexico. By and large, species with linear stigmatic lobes bloom mid winter–spring–summer, while those with capitate stigmas bloom summer–fall. Many species with linear stigmatic lobes have leaves over 5 mm wide, but such wide leaves are not known in species with capitate stigmas. Whether there is particular generic significance in differences in stigmatic lobes (linear or capitate) or in filaments (filiform or subulate, and apically acute or blunt) remains to be discovered.

The perianth tube as a portion of the perianth, the relative lengths of the filaments and perianth tube, the type of stigma, the spatial relationships of the stamens, and the position of the stigma relative to the anthers are critical characteristics in the separation of species of Zephyranthes. These characteristics, especially the capitate stigma, can be very difficult to determine in herbarium specimens, but reasonable determinations can usually be achieved with strong backlighting and practice. For consistency, almost all measurements given herein are from herbarium specimens. The width of the leaf shrinks in pressing and drying; generally the maximum width of a fresh leaf could be about one and one half that reported here.

It has been thought that pedicels are consistently either present or absent in species of Zephyranthes. This is belied by the occurrence of both pedicellate and sessile flowers within each of the three species (Z. atamasca, Z. treatiae, and Z. simpsonii) native to the southeastern United States.

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