Wislizenia

Engelmann

in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, 99. 1848.

Common names: Jackass-clover spectacle-fruit
Etymology: For Friedrich (later Frederick) Adolph Wislizenus, 1810–1889, botanical collector in southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 7. Treatment on page 213. Mentioned on page 199, 200, 205.

Herbs, shrubs, or subshrubs, annual or perennial. Stems sparsely branched laterally; puberulent, glabrous, or glabrate (scabrid when dry). Leaves: stipules minute tufts of filiform hairs; petiole without pulvinus (equal to or longer than leaflets); leaflets (1 or) 3, (conduplicate). Inflorescences terminal, racemes (dense); bracts usually absent; (pedicels 3–5 mm, glabrous). Flowers: zygomorphic; sepals usually persistent (eventually deciduous), distinct, equal; petals slightly unequal (in pairs); stamens 6 (well-exserted, ± equal); filaments inserted on gynophore, glabrous; anthers (oblong), coiling after dehiscence; gynophore reflexed in fruit; (pistil 2-lobed basally, style filiform, eventually spinelike). Fruits schizocarps, indehiscent, obovate, (reticulate, ± tuberculate, valves disarticulating from persistent, round septum). Seeds 2(–4), globose, not arillate. x = 10.

Distribution

sc, sw United States, nw Mexico.

Discussion

Species 3 (3 in the flora).

Wislizenia has been the object of diverse taxonomic opinions; as many as eight or as few as one species have been recognized. S. Keller (1979) documented three geographically and morphologically distinct groups within the genus. Although she treated those as subspecies, recognition as species seems more appropriate (H. H. Iltis, pers. comm.). The differentiation among the taxa seems equal to or greater than that among species in other genera of the family.

Key

1 Subshrubs or shrubs; leaflets 3 proximally, 1 distally, blade ovate to obovate, 3-8(-12) times as long as wide; sepals ovate. Wislizenia palmeri
1 Annuals; leaflets 3 throughout, blade ovate to obovate, 1.5-4(-5.5) times as long as wide; sepals lanceolate > 2
2 Leaflets less than 2.8 times as long as wide; gynophore ca. 5 mm in fruit; anthers 1.3-2.5 mm; petals 2.5-5 mm. Wislizenia californica
2 Leaflets 1.5-4(-5.5) times as long as wide; gynophore 2-12 mm in fruit; anthers 0.5-1.7 mm; petals 1.4-4.6 mm. Wislizenia refracta
... more about "Wislizenia"
Gordon C. Tucker +
Engelmann +
Jackass-clover +  and spectacle-fruit +
sc +, sw United States +  and nw Mexico. +
For Friedrich (later Frederick) Adolph Wislizenus, 1810–1889, botanical collector in southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico +
in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, +
greene1906a +  and keller1979a +
Wislizenia +
Cleomaceae +