Limnanthes alba

Hartweg ex Bentham

Pl. Hartw., 301. 1849.

Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 7. Treatment on page 180. Mentioned on page 174, 179.

Plants 8–40 cm; herbage glabrous or sparsely to densely hairy. Stems erect. Leaves 2–10 cm; leaflets 5–9, blade oblong, ovate, lanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, margins entire or shallowly 2-lobed to deeply 3-lobed. Flowers bowl to bell-shaped; sepals accrescent or not, lanceolate, ovate, or lanceolate-ovate, 4–8 mm; petals white or cream (sometimes cream basally, aging or drying pink or lilac), obovate, obovate-cuneate, or obcordate, 8–16 mm, 1–1.5 times as long as wide, 1.25–2.1 times longer than sepals, apex usually emarginate, sometimes truncate; filaments 3–6 mm; anthers 1–2 mm; style 2–6 mm. Nutlets gray or dark-brown, 3–4 mm, tuberculate or not, sometimes ridged, tubercles gray or dark-brown, relatively low and wide. 2n = 10.

Discussion

Subspecies 4 (4 in the flora).

Subspecies gracilis and parishii, previously in Limnanthes gracilis, are more closely related to subsp. alba than they are to each other. The genetic distance between them and other subspecies of L. alba is sufficient that an argument could be made for recognizing both parishii and gracilis as species (R. V. Kesseli, pers. comm.).

Key

1 Herbage sparsely to densely hairy; sepals densely hairy; petals 10.5-16 mm. Limnanthes alba subsp. alba
1 Herbage glabrous; sepals glabrous or sparsely hairy; petals 8-15 mm > 2
2 Petals 8-10 mm, 1 times as long as wide, obovate; styles 2-3 mm; San Diego County. Limnanthes alba subsp. parishii
2 Petals (8-)12-15 mm, 1-1.3 times as long as wide, obcordate or obovate; styles 3-4 mm; central Sierra Nevada to southern Oregon > 3
3 Leaflet blade narrowly oblong; petals cream, aging or drying lilac, obcordate, sparsely hairy (hairs long). Limnanthes alba subsp. versicolor
3 Leaflet blade ovate to linear-lanceolate; petals usually white, sometimes cream basally, aging or drying pink, obovate, glabrous. Limnanthes alba subsp. gracilis
... more about "Limnanthes alba"
tetrasporangiate +
extrorse +, introrse +  and dehiscing +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
truncate +  and emarginate +
Nancy R. Morin +
Hartweg ex Bentham +
ternate +  and bipinnate +
lobed +  and entire +
linear-lanceolate +, lanceolate +, ovate +  and oblong +
Calif. +  and Oreg. +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
bowl +  and bell-shaped +
ridged +, subglobose +  and obovoid +
rugulose +, smooth +  and tuberculate +
glabrous or +  and sparsely densely hairy +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
shallowly 2-lobed +  and deeply 3-lobed +
dark-brown +  and gray +
not +  and tuberculate +
syncarpous +  and 2-5-carpellate +
5-lobed +
cream +  and white +
distinct +
1.25-2.1 times longer than sepals +
obcordate;obovate-cuneate;obcordate;obovate-cuneate;obovate +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (1.6 cm16 mm <br />0.016 m <br />) +
colporate +, colpate +  and binucleate +
2-4-aperturate +
Pl. Hartw., +
ritland1984a +
not arillate +
persistent +
list +  and count +
lanceolate-ovate;ovate;lanceolate-ovate;ovate;lanceolate +
not +  and accrescent +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
10 +  and 8 +
sprawling +  and decumbent +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (?) +  and 0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (?) +
Limnanthes alba +
Limnanthes sect. Inflexae +
species +
dark-brown +  and gray +
pink +, lilac +, white +, drying +, dark yellow +  and purplish +
usually longer +
pubescent +  and glabrous +