Adolphia

Meisner

Pl. Vasc. Gen. 1: 70; 2: 50. 1837.

Common names: Prickbush spinebrush
Etymology: For Adolphe Brongniart, 1801–1876, French botanist and student of Rhamnaceae
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 12. Treatment on page 108. Mentioned on page 45.

Shrubs, armed with thorns, secondary branches and branchlets green; bud scales absent. Leaves early deciduous, usually absent by flowering, opposite or subopposite; blade not gland-dotted; pinnately veined (obscurely, appearing 1-veined or vaguely 3-veined from base). Inflorescences axillary, cymes or flowers solitary; peduncles and pedicels not fleshy in fruit. Pedicels present. Flowers bisexual; hypanthium broadly obconic to hemispheric-campanulate, 1.5–3 mm wide; sepals (4–)5, spreading, whitish to greenish white, ovate-triangular or triangular-deltate, keeled adaxially; petals (4–)5, white, sometimes yellow-tipped, hooded, spatulate, clawed; nectary fleshy, 5-angled, lining hypanthium; stamens (4–)5; ovary superior, 3-locular; style 1. Fruits capsules.

Distribution

sw United States, Mexico.

Discussion

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

Key

1 Secondary branches and branchlets glabrous or glabrate, branchlets 1–1.5 mm diam.; leaf blades elliptic-oblong to obovate, 1- or vaguely 3-veined from base; hypanthia broadly obconic, 2.5–3 mm wide, sides nearly straight; sepals triangular-deltate, length equaling width, margins straight; petals 2–2.5 mm, deeply hooded. Adolphia californica
1 Secondary branches and branchlets minutely and persistently short-hispid, slowly glabrescent, branchlets usually 0.5–1 mm diam.; leaf blades narrowly oblanceolate to linear, 1-veined from base; hypanthia hemispheric-campanulate, 1.5 mm wide, sides convex; sepals ovate-triangular, length nearly 2 times width, margins curved; petals 1.2–1.5 mm, shallowly hooded. Adolphia infesta