View source for Limonium

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Limonium
|accepted_authority=Miller
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Gard. Dict. Abr. ed.
|place=4, vol. 2. 1754
|year=1754
}}
|common_names=Sea lavender;statice;marsh rosemary
|basionyms=
|synonyms=
|hierarchy=Plumbaginaceae;Limonium
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Plumbaginaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Limonium]]</div></div>
|etymology=Greek leimon, meadow, referring to frequent occurrence of some species on salt meadows
|volume=Volume 5
|mention_page=page 602, 603, 610
|treatment_page=page 606
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Plants </b>herbs, usually perennial, scapose, acaulescent; taprooted or rhizomatous. <b>Leaves</b> basal (sometimes also on inflorescence axes), sessile or petiolate; blade often punctate, elliptic to obovate, oblanceolate, spatulate, oblong, or round, usually coriaceous, base usually long-attenuate, margins entire or toothed to pinnatifid, apex rounded to apiculate or retuse. <b>Inflorescences</b> usually of terminal panicles or corymbs, ultimate branch tips bearing secund, usually 1–3(–5)-flowered spikelets. <b>Pedicels</b> absent or present (very short, subtended by 3 or 4 sheathing bracts). <b>Flowers</b> homostylous; calyx tubular to funnelform, 5-ribbed, glabrous or pubescent, plicate, lobes oblong to triangular, sometimes with smaller intervening lobes, or lobes ± connate and calyx mouth erose; petals nearly distinct, white, lavender, or yellow, long-clawed; filaments adnate to base of corolla; anthers included; styles 5, distinct to base; stigmas linear-clavate, papillate. <b>Fruits</b> utricles, usually exserted from persistent calyx, brownish green, usually capped by marcescent corolla and style bases. <b>x</b> = 8, 9.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=Worldwide;especially from Mediterranean region east to c Asia.
|discussion=<p>Species ca. 300 (8 in the flora).</p><!--
--><p>The greatest diversity in <i>Limonium</i> is found in Europe (ca. 100 species and many subspecies; see S. Pignatti 1972) and in Mediterranean and central Asian regions, often on saline or calcareous soils and cliffs near the coasts; other species are found in saline marshlands. The showiest species (<i>L. arborescens</i> and <i>L. perezii</i>), with a persistent blue-purple to lavender calyx, have their origin in the Canary Islands; they are often cultivated for ornament or their inflorescences are air-dried for floral arrangements under their Linnaean name “Statice.” Other species have been used in rock gardens. Six species are locally naturalized in California.</p><!--
--><p><i>Limonium</i> vulgare Miller (Statice limonium Linnaeus), similar morphologically to <i>L. carolinianum</i>, has been reported by H. J. Scoggan (1978–1979, part 4) from central Saskatchewan and southern Ontario (“in a weedy...cemetery...York Co., where ‘growing without cultivation’”). It is doubtful that the species persists or is spreading. Recent revisitation of the site in Ontario by J. E. Eckenwalder (pers. comm.) suggests that <i>Limonium</i> vulgare is no longer extant there. <i>Limonium</i> leptostachyum (Boissier) Kuntze (S. leptostachya Boissier) has been reported from New York by R. S. Mitchell and G. C. Tucker (1997); it is doubtful that this central Asian species is naturalized in the flora area. It differs from all other species in the flora area by having small (10–30 × 5 mm), deeply pinnatifid leaves and narrow, spikelike inflorescences.</p><!--
--><p>Some species of <i>Limonium</i>, e.g., <i>L. sinuatum</i>, have dimorphic pollen and stigmas that result in self-incompatibility, although the native species in the flora area have been shown to be self-compatible (H. G. Baker 1953b). Agamospermy is also common in some extraterritorial species, and this may account, in part, for the taxonomic difficulty in some groups of <i>Limonium</i>.</p>
|tables=
|references={{Treatment/Reference
|id=baker1953a
|text=Baker, H. G. 1953b. Dimorphism and monomorphism in the Plumbaginaceae II. Pollen and stigmata in the genus Limonium. Ann. Bot. (Oxford), n. s. 17: 433–445.
}}{{Treatment/Reference
|id=luteyn1976a
|text=Luteyn, J. L. 1976. Revision of Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) in eastern North America. Brittonia 28: 303–317.
}}
}}<!--

--><div class="treatment-key">
==Key==
<div class="treatment-key-group">
  
{| class="wikitable fna-keytable"
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Leaf blade margins pinnately lobed; inflorescence axes with 3-5 wings, these with linear leaflike appendages 2-8 × 0.2-0.5 cm and stiff, stout hairs to ca. 1.5 mm
|[[Limonium sinuatum|Limonium sinuatum]]
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Leaf blade margins ± entire or obscurely undulate; inflorescence axes not winged, or if winged, then wings 2(-3), linear leaflike appendages absent, glabrous
|[[#key-0-2| > 2]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Inflorescences with some nonflowering branches
|[[Limonium otolepis|Limonium otolepis]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Inflorescences with all (or nearly all) branches bearing flowers
|[[#key-0-3| > 3]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Inflorescences greater than 1 m, axes strongly winged, wings leaflike, veined
|[[Limonium arborescens|Limonium arborescens]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Inflorescences less than 1 m, axes not winged
|[[#key-0-4| > 4]]
|-id=key-0-4
|4
|Calyces blue-purple distally; leaf blades round to broadly ovate or subcordate, bases abruptly narrowed, nearly as broad as long; floral bracts ciliate or fimbriate on margins; coastal s California
|[[Limonium perezii|Limonium perezii]]
|-id=key-0-4
|4
|Calyces whitish distally; leaf blades obovate to oblong or oblanceolate, bases gradually tapered; floral bracts glabrous at margins; widespread
|[[#key-0-5| > 5]]
|-id=key-0-5
|5
|Leaf blades less than 4 × 1.5 cm, each with single midrib and sometimes 2 lesser, ± parallel veins; petals pink to lavender, exserted 2-3 mm from calyx;calyx ribs glabrous; coastal salt marshes of s California
|[[Limonium ramosissimum|Limonium ramosissimum]]
|-id=key-0-5
|5
|Leaf blades more than 4 × 1.5 cm, pinnately veined; petals lavender or whitish, exserted 0-2 mm from calyx; calyx ribs often pilose, sometimes glabrous; widespread
|[[#key-0-6| > 6]]
|-id=key-0-6
|6
|Calyx lobes spreading at maturity; spikelets always densely aggregated at tips of inflorescence branches; inland alkaline areas
|[[Limonium limbatum|Limonium limbatum]]
|-id=key-0-6
|6
|Calyx lobes ascending or erect at maturity; spikelets not aggregated, or loosely to moderately or densely aggregated along inflorescence branches; coastal salt marshes or flats
|[[#key-0-7| > 7]]
|-id=key-0-7
|7
|Spikelets loosely to moderately densely aggregated along inflorescence branches; leaf blade apices cuspidate, cusps 1-3 mm,soon falling; Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains
|[[Limonium carolinianum|Limonium carolinianum]]
|-id=key-0-7
|7
|Spikelets moderately to densely aggregated along inflorescence branches; leaf blade apices rounded or, occasionally, retuse at tips, rarely cuspidate (cusps less than 0.5 mm); California and Oregoncoasts, Arizona, s Nevada
|[[Limonium californicum|Limonium californicum]]
|}
</div></div><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Limonium
|author=Alan R. Smith
|authority=Miller
|rank=genus
|parent rank=family
|synonyms=
|basionyms=
|family=Plumbaginaceae
|distribution=Worldwide;especially from Mediterranean region east to c Asia.
|reference=baker1953a;luteyn1976a
|publication title=Gard. Dict. Abr. ed.
|publication year=1754
|special status=
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/8f726806613d60c220dc4493de13607dd3150896/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V5/V5_1233.xml
|genus=Limonium
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Plumbaginaceae]]