Warea

Annuals; not scapose; (usually somewhat glaucous), glabrous throughout (rarely petal claws pubescent). Stems erect, often branched distally, rarely unbranched, (usually slender, rarely stout). Leaves cauline (basal not seen, soon withered, not rosulate); petiolate or sessile; blade (base cuneate, auriculate, or amplexicaul), margins entire. Racemes (corymbose, several-flowered, floral buds clavate), not or slightly elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels (often deciduous at maturity, leaving elevated discoid scars on rachis), divaricate, slender, (sometimes filiform, straight, with 2 lateral glands basally). Flowers: sepals spreading or reflexed, linear-oblanceolate, lateral pair not saccate basally; petals (spreading), white or pink to deep purple, obovate, orbicular, or spatulate, (margins entire or crisped), claw strongly differentiated from blade (slender, often dilated basally, usually minutely to coarsely papillate or pubescent, rarely nearly smooth, apex rounded); stamens (strongly exserted, spreading), subequal; filaments not dilated basally; anthers linear, (coiled after dehiscence); nectar glands confluent, subtending bases of stamens, (often 6 teeth alternating with filaments), median glands present. Fruits stipitate, narrowly linear, smooth, (recurved), latiseptate; valves each with prominent midvein throughout; replum rounded; septum complete; ovules 20–60 per ovary; style usually obsolete, rarely distinct; stigma entire. Seeds uniseriate, not winged, oblong; seed coat (concentrically striate), not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons accumbent. x = 12.

Distribution

se United States.

Discussion

Species 4 (4 in the flora).

Selected References

Channell, R. B. and C. W. James. 1964. Nomenclatural and taxonomic corrections in Warea (Cruciferae). Rhodora 66: 18–26.

Lower Taxa

Warea amplexifolia, Warea carteri, Warea cuneifolia, Warea sessilifolia

Key

1	Cauline leaves petiolate or obsolete, blades linear-oblanceolate, oblancolate, or narrowly oblong	> 2
1	Cauline leaves sessile, blades oblong, ovate, or lanceolate	> 3
2	Petal claws nearly smooth or obscurely papillate, margins entire; gynophores (5-)7-11 mm.	Warea cuneifolia
2	Petal claws coarsely papillate to pubescent, margins crisped; gynophores 3-6(-7) mm.	Warea carteri
3	Leaf blade base not clasping stem, obtuse to minutely auriculate.	Warea sessilifolia
3	Leaf blade base clasping stem, amplexicaul to strongly auriculate.	Warea amplexifolia