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Saussurea nuda

(Nutty Saw-Wort)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Nutty Saw-Wort, Chaffless Saw-Wort, Dwarf Saw-Wort

Description

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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 Saussurea

Perennials , 5-120+ cm; herbage tomentose or glabrescent , not spiny . Stems erect or ascending , simple or branched. Leaves basal or cauline (sometimes cauline only), sessile or petiolate ; blade margins entire or dentate to pinnately lobed , faces glabrous to densely tomentose, glandular or eglandular . Heads discoid , borne singly or in corymbiform arrays. Involucres ovoid to campanulate or ± turbinate . Phyllaries many in 3-5(-10+) series, subequal to strongly unequal, appressed or not, ovate to lanceolate, margins entire, toothed , or lobed, apices obtuse or acute, appendaged or not, not spine-tipped. Receptacles flat or convex , epaleate, smooth , usually subulate-scaly, sometimes bristly or naked. Florets 10-20; corollas white to blue or purple, tubes slender, abruptly expanded to throats , lobes linear ; anther bases short-tailed, apical appendages linear, acute; style branches: fused portions with minutely hairy subterminal nodes, distinct portions oblong to linear, short-papillate. Cypselae oblong, ± angled , cylindric or 4-5-angled, ribs (when present) smooth or roughened, apices entire, glabrous or minutely glandular, attachment scars basal; pappi usually of 2 series, outer of readily falling, short bristles , inner persistent or falling as unit , of basally connate , usually longer , plumose bristles. x = 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19?.

Species 300-400: North America, Eurasia , 1 in Australia.

Saussurea is a notoriously difficult, largely Asiatic genus with species boundaries often indistinct.[1]

Physical Description

Species Saussurea nuda

Plants 5-60 cm; branched caudices; herbage subglabrous to loosely tomentose when young, ± glabrescent , at least proximally. Stems usually simple . Leaves basal and cauline ± smaller distally, tapered to winged petioles to 7 cm, blades elliptic or lanceolate to ovate , 5-15 cm, bases obtuse to acute, margins subentire to sinuate , dentate or denticulate , apices acute to acuminate; distal cauline sessile, ± decurrent. Heads 3-20+ in corymbiform to subcapitate arrays; (peduncles 0-5 cm.. Involucres 10-15 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series subequal or weakly imbricate, linear to lanceolate, abaxial faces dark green, often tinged dark purplish, loosely villous or ± tomentose. Receptacles naked. Florets 15-20; corollas purple, 8-11 mm, tubes 4-6 mm, throats 1.5-2 mm, lobes 3-3.5 mm; anthers dark purple. Cypselae stramineous , 6-7 mm; pappi of white to brownish, outer bristles 1-3 mm, inner 9-10 mm. 2n = 26 (as S. densa). [source]

North American populations of Saussurea nuda occur in two distinctly different sets of habitats . Plants from coastal Alaska have been recognized as var. nuda and dwarfed alpine plants from the northern Rockies as var. densa. According to E. Hultén (1941-1950, vol. 10), the only differences between var. densa and var. nuda are the "more densely denticulated leaves and very congested inflorescences" of the former. Notwithstanding the very different habitats, some coastal Alaskan specimens [e.g. , Ward 53 (ALA ) ] are indistinguishable from the alpine forms. In Siberia, S. nuda is a polymorphic species occurring from coastal sites to alpine areas (S. J. Lipschitz 1979). [source]

Saussurea ×tschuktschorum Lipschitz is apparently a hybrid between S. angustifolia and S. nuda. It resembles S. angustifolia; it has naked receptacles like S. nuda. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: June, July, August. • Flower Color: lavender, violet

Size/Age/Growth

Size: under 6" tall.

Habitat

Coastal dunes, estuaries, alpine tundra ; 0-100, 2000-2800 m (Ref. 103504).

Typically found in the intertidal zone at the water's edge at a mean distance from sea level of 487 meters (1,597 feet).[2]

Biome: Coastal.

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 1. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

S. alpina var. ledebourii A. Gray • S. densa (Hooker) Rydberg • S. nuda densa (Hooker) G. W. Douglas • S. nuda var. densa (Hooker) Hultén • Saussurea alpina (Linnaeus) De Candolle

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: Data Providers: Tropicos. GCC LSID: urn :lsid:compositae.org:names:BB08809F-2DA5-4A5C-A580-F8F567549FE3

Last scrutiny: 15-Aug-09

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Saussurea

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 13 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

S. alpina (Alpine Sawwort) · S. amara (Saussurea) · S. americana (American Saw-Wort) · S. angustifolia (Narrowleaf Saw-Wort) · S. angustifolia var. angustifolia (Narrowleaf Saw-Wort) · S. angustifolia var. yukonensis (Narrowleaf Saw-Wort) · S. angustifolia yukonensis (Narrowleaf Saw-Wort) · S. densa (Clustered Sawwort) · S. nuda (Nutty Saw-Wort) · S. tilesii (Tiles' Saussurea) · S. tschuktschorum (Tschuktsch's Saussurea) · S. viscida (Sticky Saw-Wort) · S. weberi (Weber's Saw-Wort)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 29, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. David J. Keil "Saussurea". in Flora of North America Vol. 19, 20 and 21 Page 58, 83, 165. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Standard Deviation = 1,170.330 based on 6 observations. Terrestrial altitude and ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012