Neviusia

A. Gray

Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 6: 374, plate 30. 1859.

Common names: Snow-wreath
Conservation concernEndemic
Etymology: For Reuben Denton Nevius, 1827 – 1913 clergyman and amateur botanist
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 9. Treatment on page 387. Mentioned on page 386, 389.

Shrubs, 6–32 dm, ± strigose. Stems 1–6+, erect, slender; bark proximally grayish, distally reddish brown, ± exfoliating in strips near base, decurrently ridged; short shoots absent; unarmed; young stems reddish. Leaves winter-persistent, deciduous, cauline, alternate; stipules persistent, linear to awl-shaped, margins serrate; petiole present; blade bright green adaxially, ovate or ovate-lanceolate to cordate, 2–9 cm, membranous, margins flat, shallowly lobed and coarsely serrate or doubly serrate, abaxial surface subsericeous to strigose, adaxial sparsely strigose to subsericeous. Inflorescences terminal, 2–10-flowered, subumbellate corymbs; bracts absent; bracteoles present. Pedicels present. Flowers appearing as leaves expand, odorless, 2.5–4 mm diam.; epicalyx bractlets 0; hypanthium flat, 1–3 mm diam., glabrous or glabrate; sepals 5, spreading to reflexed, elliptic to obovate or lanceolate, margins serrate (incised above middle); petals usually 0, rarely 1 or 2, white, oblanceolate; stamens 50–100+, equal to sepals (inner often shorter); torus inconspicuous; carpels 2–6, densely strigose, styles subapical, elongate, stigmas minute; ovule 1. Fruits aggregated achenes, 2–6, eccentrically ovoid, 3–4 mm, densely strigose; hypanthium persistent; sepals persistent, orientation in fruit unknown.

Distribution

w, se United States.

Discussion

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Leaf margins doubly serrate, some distal leaves only finely serrate; sepals 5–9(–12) mm; petals 0; stamens 100+; styles 4.5–6 mm. Neviusia alabamensis
1 Leaf margins shallowly lobed and coarsely serrate; sepals 3.5–6 mm; petals usually 0, rarely 1–2; stamens 50+; styles 3 mm. Neviusia cliftonii