Frasera albicaulis var. albicaulis
Stems densely puberulent. Leaf blades abaxially puberulent. Flowers: calyx lobes adaxially puberulent; corolla pale to medium blue or greenish white to cream, generally with dark blue to purple spots; corona scales oblong, deeply 2-lobed, often further cleft into threadlike segments, 1–3(–4) mm, margins lacerate or deeply toothed or lobed; rim of differentiated area on corolla fringed proximally, not fringed toward distal end. 2n = 26 (as F. pahutensis).
Phenology: Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat: Dry or moist open sites.
Elevation: 500–2600 m.
Distribution
Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., Wash.
Discussion
A report of Frasera albicaulis from British Columbia is unsubstantiated. California plants that have previously been included in var. albicaulis are treated here as var. modocensis.
The Nevada plants that were called Frasera pahutensis are disjunct by about 1200 km from other populations of F. albicaulis var. albicaulis. Although they occur nearer the ranges of var. modocensis and var. nitida, they resemble the more northern var. albicaulis in the narrow sense, differing, respectively, from the two varieties in California in their white or scarcely blue-tinged corollas, relatively small, deeply lacerate corona scales, and in their densely puberulent stems and leaves. Examination of numerous specimens by D. M. Post (unpubl.) and in studies for this flora has disclosed no morphological features by which the Nevada plants could be differentiated from var. albicaulis, although further study would be appropriate. The Nevada plants that have been called F. pahutensis may be diploid whereas some other taxa here included in F. albicaulis may be hexaploid, but with the ploidy level of var. albicaulis elsewhere being unknown and only one count having been published for any of the other components of F. albicaulis, it is not known which ploidy level prevails in which of the varieties. Additional studies of ploidy levels in this complex might indicate that further refinements in classification would be appropriate.
Selected References
None.