TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
previous taxon |
next taxon
Jepson Interchange (more information) |
|
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Annual or perennial herb, generally fleshy
Stems generally glabrous
Leaves simple, alternate or opposite, sometimes stipuled
Inflorescence various
Flower bisexual, radial; sepals generally 2(8), free or fused at base; petals 318, free or ± fused; stamens 1many, free or inserted on corolla; ovary superior or partly inferior, chamber 1, placenta free-central or basal; styles 28, generally fused at base
Fruit: capsule, circumscissile or 23-valved
Seeds 1many, generally black, generally shiny
Genera in family: ± 20 genera, ± 400 species: generally temp Am, Australia, s Africa; some cultivated (Lewisia, Portulaca, Calandrinia )
Reference: [Bogle 1969 J Arnold Arbor 50:566598]
Family description and key to genera by Dieter H. Wilken & Walter A. Kelley.
Annual, perennial herb, ± fleshy, from taproot or fibrous roots, generally glabrous
Stems generally several, generally spreading to ascending
Leaves in basal rosette or basal and cauline, simple, oblanceolate to spoon-shaped
Inflorescence: raceme, panicle, or umbel, scapose, leafy, or bracted; flowers generally on 1 side of axis, deciduous or persistent in fruit; bracts generally < sepals, scarious
Flower: sepals 2, ovate to reniform, generally scarious or scarious-margined, persistent in fruit; petals 24, minute, < sepals, tips adherent and cap-like in fruit, falling as 1 unit; stamens 13; style 0 or 1, thread-like, stigmas generally 2
Fruit: capsule, generally translucent, 2-valved, generally compressed, oblong to ± round
Seeds 1many, black, generally shiny
Species in genus: 8 species: w Am
Etymology: (Greek: cap, from petals in fruit)
Reference: [Hinton 1975 Brittonia 27:197208; Thomas 1956 Leafl W Bot 8:911]
Observation of flower, seeds requires 20X magnification.
Native |
Perennial, < 6 dm; caudex short, thick; taproot slender to thick
Stems generally spreading to ascending, scapose
Leaves: basal rosettes generally 2+; leaf 1.57 cm
Inflorescence: umbel, generally compound, simple in small plants, 17 cm diam, terminal, generally 1 per rosette, dense; bracts subtending inflorescence < or = sepals, ± round; flowers subsessile to short-pedicelled, persistent in fruit
Flower: sepals 38 mm, ± round, clearly scarious; petals 4, 38 mm, white; stamens 3, yellow to red; style ± 1 mm, thread-like
Fruit 23 mm, widely elliptic to ± round
Seeds 18
Ecology: Open, sandy to rocky soils, coniferous forest, alpine
Elevation: 15004300 m (100200 m in SnFrB).
Bioregional distribution: Klamath Ranges, High North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, sw San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Cruz Mtns), Great Basin Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: to Montana, w Wyoming
Flowering time: MayAug
Alpine plants from SNH with simple umbels, persistent leaves < 1 cm have been called var. caudiciferum (A. Gray) Jeps
Horticultural information: TRY; DFCLT.