Nemacaulis nuttallii

• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Description

Family Polygonaceae

Herbs, shrubs , or small trees , sometimes monoecious or dioecious. Stems erect , prostrate , twining , or scandent , often with swollen nodes, striate , grooved , or prickly. Leaves simple , alternate, rarely opposite or whorled , petiolate or subsessile ; stipules often united to a sheath (ocrea) . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , spicate , racemose, paniculate , or capitate. Pedicel occasionally articulate . Flowers small, actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual . Perianth 3-6-merous, in 1 or 2 series, herbaceous, often enlarged in fruit or inner tepals enlarged, with wings , tubercles , or spines. Stamens usually (3-) 6-9, rarely more; filaments free or united at base ; anthers 2-loculed, opening lengthwise; disk annular (often lobed ) . Ovary superior, 1-loculed; styles 2 or 3, rarely 4, free or connate at lower part. Fruit a trigonous , biconvex , or biconcave achene; seed with straight or curved embryo and copious endosperm.

About 50 genera and 1120 species: worldwide, but primarily N temperate with a few species in tropical regions ; 13 genera (two endemic) and 238 species (65 endemic) in China.[1]

Genus Nemacaulis

Herbs annual ; taproot thin. Stems arising from the root , prostrate to spreading or erect , glabrous to glandular or lanate . Leaves persistent through anthesis , essentially basal, rosulate; petiole indistinct; blade linear to spatulate , margins entire. Inflorescences terminal , cymose ; branches mostly dichotomous, not brittle or disarticulating into segments, round , glabrous or sparsely lanate, sometimes glandular, secondary branches sometimes developing tardily; bracts 3, connate basally, triangular to obovate , leaflike or scalelike, not awned , glabrous or glandular. Peduncles erect, slender, or absent. Involucral bracts obscure to obvious, in tight spiral , linear to lanceolate or narrowly ovate , not awn-tipped. Flowers 5-30 per involucre, sessile or pedicellate ; perianth white to rose, campanulate when open, narrowly urceolate when closed , glabrous or with gland-tipped hairs ; tepals 6, connate proximally, slightly dimorphic , entire; stamens 3; filaments basally adnate , glabrous; anthers pink to red, oval . Achenes mostly included , brown to deep maroon or black, not winged , 3-gonous, glabrous. Seeds: embryo curved .

Species 1: sw United States, nw Mexico.

Nemacaulis is allied to Eriogonum subg. Ganysma and especially E. gossypinum. Like that species, N. denudata has flowers embedded in a dense mass of hairs, which is the only significant feature that the two have in common aside from being annuals, generally spreading in habit, and having rather densely pubescent stems and leaves. The flowers in Nemacaulis are arranged in glomerules , a feature unique in Eriogonoideae. The involucre is markedly different, being composed of several whorls of bracts, each of which subtends a flower. In this and all the other members of Eriogoneae, modification of the involucre appears to be a significant factor in the evolution of distinctive genera. In Nemacaulis, the entire glomerule is dispersed by on-shore breezes along the coast, an effective transport mechanism for the tiny seeds. Entire glomerules may be trapped in moist pockets of sand, thereby positioning several seeds in a favorable location. In the rapidly evolving derived annuals of Eriogonineae, any selective advantage is quickly adopted and survival enhanced in the rather harsh environment, where members of the subtribe abound.[2]

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Nemacaulis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 3 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

N. denudata (Cottonheads) · N. denudata var. denudata (Coast Woolly-Heads) · N. denudata var. gracilis (Cottonheads)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 390.
• Li Anjen, Kao Tsoching, Mao Zumei & Liu Yulan. 1998. Polygonaceae. In: Li Anjen, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 25(1): 1209.
• Reveal, J. L. and B. Ertter. 1980. The genus Nemacaulis Nutt. (Polygonaceae). Madroño 27: 101-109.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 13, 2012.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 10764769
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15786331
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:694802-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 694802-1
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 3653247

Footnotes

1. Anjen Li, Bojian Bao, Alisa E. Grabovskaya-Borodina, Suk-pyo Hong, John McNeill, Sergei L. Mosyakin, Hideaki Ohba & Chong-wook Park "Polygonaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 277. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. James L. Reveal "Nemacaulis". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.