Interesting Facts
Common Names
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Common Names in English:
Alpine Arctic Cudweed, Alpine Arctic-Cudweed, Alpine Cudweed
Common Names in French:
Gnaphale Couché
Description
Family Compositae
The largest family of flowering plants , the Compositae (Asteraceae), comprising about 1,100 genera and more than 20,000 species and characterized by many small flowers arranged in a head looking like a single flower and subtended by an involucre of bracts. A head may consist of both ray flowers and disk flowers, as in the sunflower, of disk flowers only, as in the burdock, or of ray flowers only, as in the dandelion.
Genus Omalotheca
Perennials
, 2-70 cm (fibrous-rooted, rhizomatous
, not stoloniferous
). Stems usually 1, erect
(branched from bases
or distally, woolly-tomentose to sericeous
). Leaves basal (persistent
in rosettes) and cauline; alternate; sessile; blades
mostly narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate
, bases cuneate, margins
entire, faces
bicolor or concolor
, abaxial
white to gray, thinly tomentose
, adaxial
white to grayish and sericeous to thinly woolly
or greenish and glabrate
. Heads disciform
, in spiciform
or subcapitate
arrays. Involucres campanulate
to turbinate
, 5-6 mm.
Phyllaries in 2-3 series, stramineous
to brownish (sometimes mottled
; hyaline
, stereomes
not glandular
), unequal, chartaceous
toward apices. Receptacles flat to concave
, smooth
, epaleate. Peripheral (pistillate
) florets 35-70+ (more numerous
than bisexual
) ; corollas purplish or whitish. Inner (bisexual) florets 3-4; corollas purplish or whitish, distally purplish or reddish. Cypselae obovoid
to cylindric
or fusiform
, sometimes slightly compressed
, faces strigillose
(hairs
not myxogenic, lengths
6-12 times diams.) and papillate
(carpopodia forming minute stipes) ; pappi falling readily, of 15-25 distinct
(falling separately) or basally connate
(falling together), barbellate
bristles
in 1 series. x = 14.
Species 8-10: mostly Eurasian; three species reaching North America in native
distribution (Omalotheca sylvatica perhaps not native, see below).
The species of Omalotheca have been placed in subg. Omalotheca (capitulescences
of 1-10 heads
, cypselae compressed-obovoid, and pappus bristles distinct and falling separately) and subg. Gamochaetiopsis Schultz-Bipontinus & F. W. Schultz (capitulescences of 10-100 heads, cypselae cylindric, and pappus bristles basally connate and falling together).[1]
Physical Description
Species Omalotheca supina
Plants 2-8(-12) cm. Leaves mostly basal (in persistent rosettes) ; blades 1-nerved, linear to linear-oblanceolate, 5-25 × 3 mm, cauline similar, faces concolor , gray-green, thinly woolly . Heads (usually 1-7) in subcapitate to loose , spiciform arrays. Involucres campanulate , 5-6 mm. Phyllaries light green to tan, oblong to lanceolate, outer obtuse , inner mostly acute, margins and tips dark brown. Cypselae obovoid , strigose ; pappus bristles distinct , falling separately. 2n = 28. [source]
Flowers: Bloom Period: July, August, September.
Habitat
Granite outcrops, gravelly slopes , other alpine sites; 200-1300 m [2].
Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,037 meters (0 to 9,964 feet).[3]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Asteridae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Campanulanae
()
- Takhtajan Ex Reveal, 1992
- Order:
Asterales
()
- Lindley, 1833
- Family:
Compositae
()
- Giseke, 1792, nom. cons., nom. alt.
- Subfamily:
Asteroideae
()
- Tribe:
Gnaphalieae
()
- Subtribe:
Gnaphaliinae
()
- Genus:
Omalotheca
()
- Cassini in F. Cuvier, Dict. Sci. Nat. ed. 2. 56: 218. 1828.
- Arctic Cudweed
- Specific epithet:
supina
- (Linnaeus) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle,
Prodr. 6: 245. 1838.
- Botanical name: - Omalotheca supina (L.) DC. (Linnaeus) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 6: 245. 1838.
- Specific epithet:
supina
- (Linnaeus) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle,
Prodr. 6: 245. 1838.
- Genus:
Omalotheca
(
- Subtribe:
Gnaphaliinae
(
- Tribe:
Gnaphalieae
(
- Subfamily:
Asteroideae
(
- Family:
Compositae
(
- Order:
Asterales
(
- Superorder:
Campanulanae
(
- Subclass:
Asteridae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Synonyms
Gnaphalium supinum Linnaeus • Syst. Nat. Ed. 12
Notes
Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000
Similar Species
Members of the genus Omalotheca
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 3 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
O. norvegica (Norwegian Arctic Cudweed) · O. supina (Alpine Arctic Cudweed) · O. sylvatica (Wood Cudweed)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- A catalogue of the phaenogamous plants of Great Britain: arranged according to the natural orders: with a copious list of synonyms carefully compiled from Steudel's Nomenclator botanicus, Smith's English flora, Hookers's British flora, Lindley's Synopsis, by Henry Ibbotson. London: H. Bailliere, 1848. url p. 66.
- Botany of the United States north of Virginia; comprising descriptions of the flowering and fern-like plants hitherto found in those states, arranged according to the natural system. With a synopsis of the genera according to the Linnean system, a New York, Harper, 1868. url p. 197.
- Flora of the U.S.S.R. [Springfield, Va.: Israel Program for Scientific Translations; 1968- url p. 377.
- National list of scientific plant names. [Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 1982- url p. 191.
- Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 243.
- Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 31 1888 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 236.
- Sport in Norway, and where to find it. Together with a short account of the vegetable productions of the country. To which is added, a list of the Alpine flora of the Dovre fjeld and of the Norwegian ferns, &c. By M. R. Barnard. .. London, Chapman and Hall, 1864. url p. 292, p. 292.
- Syllogeus. Ottawa, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 1972-1995. url p. 140, p. 77, p. 87.
- Synoptical flora of North America: the Gamopetalae, a second edition of vol. I, pt. II, and vol. II, pt. I / collected by Asa Gray. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1888. url p. 236.
- Nesom, G. L. 1990b. Taxonomic summary of Omalotheca (Asteraceae: Inuleae). Phytologia 68: 241-246.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 11, 2012.
Data Sources
Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 28, 2007:
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Vascular Plant Herbarium, Oslo
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Vascular Plants, Field notes, Oslo
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2659062
- Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-38137
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13727280
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:235192-1
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 38137
- Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PDASTDP020
- U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: GNSU2
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 40193
Footnotes
- Guy L. Nesom "Omalotheca". in Flora of North America Vol. 19, 20 and 21 Page 58, 387, 429, 438, 439. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- "Omalotheca supina". in Flora of North America Vol. 19, 20 and 21 Page 58, 387, 439. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- Mean = 603.700 meters (1,980.643 feet), Standard Deviation = 411.900 based on 6,915 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
