Pseudorontium

Herbs, annual. Stems erect, branching, filiform, twining branches absent, glandular-hairy, viscid. Leaves cauline, opposite proximally, alternate distally; petiole present; blade not fleshy, not leathery, margins entire. Inflorescences axillary, flowers solitary; bracts present, alternate. Pedicels present, not twining, recurved in fruit; bracteoles absent. Flowers bisexual; sepals 5, basally connate, calyx slightly bilaterally symmetric, cupulate, lobes linear to narrowly oblanceolate; corolla purple with darker veins, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate and personate, tubular, tube base gibbous abaxially, not spurred, lobes 5, abaxial 2, adaxial 3; stamens 4, basally adnate to corolla, didynamous, filaments glabrous or sparsely hairy, pollen sacs 1 per filament; staminode 0 or 1, capitate; ovary 2-locular, placentation axile; stigma subcapitate. Fruits capsules, locules equal, dehiscence poricidal. Seeds 30–70, black or dark brown, ellipsoid, wings present, cupulate. x = 13.

Distribution

sw United States, nw Mexico.

Discussion

Species 1.

Pseudorontium is similar to Mohavea in having winged seeds, but R. K. Oyama and D. A. Baum (2004) and P. Vargas et al. (2004) found Pseudorontium positioned well outside the taxa usually included in Antirrhinum in both the narrow (D. A. Sutton 1988) and broad (D. M. Thompson 1988) senses. ITS results in M. Fernández-Mazuecos et al. (2013) placed Pseudorontium and Mohavea in different clades; Pseudorontium was sister to Galvezia. The pendent, globular capsules, eccentrically winged seeds, and lack of twining branches distinguish P. cyathiferum from species of Sairocarpus.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Pseudorontium cyathiferum