Marina dispansa
Rupert C. Barneby
29. Marina dispansa (Rydberg) Barneby
(Plate XXII)
Shrubby, repeatedly and irregularly branching, the stature and attitude of the stems unknown but apparently diffuse with flexuously incurved branchlets, glabrous except for the fimbriolate stipules, bracts, and calyx-teeth, the stems livid-castaneous, remotely low-verruculose, the leaflets strongly bicolored, green above, pale and minutely gland-punctate beneath, their margins subrevolute, gland-crenulate, 3-5-denticulate at apex; leaf-spurs 0.3-0.6 mm long; stipules deltate, up to 0.5 mm long; intrapetiolular gland linear-subulate; post-petiolular glands very prominent, slender-subulate; main cauline leaves sessile or nearly so, ± 2.5-3 cm long, with narrowly margined rachis and 8-10 pairs of oblong or oblong-obovate, subtruncate, basally subcordate, gland- mucronulate leaflets 4-7 mm long, the rameal leaves shorter, with ±4-6 pairs of leaflets of same shape but only 2-4.5 mm long; peduncles mostly terminal to branchlets, a few leaf-opposed, 1-6 mm long; racemes shortly but loosely (4) 6-10-flowered, the flowers patent and declined, the axis ±4-9 mm long; bracts embracing the young buds but early deciduous, ovate, short-acuminate, 1.5-2 mm long, submembranous, slender-keeled and minutely glandular dorsally; pedicels (0.5) 0.6-0.8 mm long, charged near apex with 2 prominent glands; calyx 3.6-4 mm long, the broadly campanulate, pleated tube 2.2- 2.5 mm long, the ribs slender but prominent, the submembranous intervals charged with a chain of ± 7-9 small, golden glands, the orifice sub- symmetrical, the plane, herbaceous teeth ovate-deltate, tentacular-fimbriolate, their broad bases ± imbricate, the dorsal one 1.2-1.7 mm long, the ventral pair a little shorter and broader; petals apparently pink-purple, the strongly brown-veined banner perhaps opening whitish, the inner ones elevated 1.8-2.4 mm above the hypanthium rim, the banner and keel charged with a few small glands; banner 4-4.3 mm long, the claw 1.8-2 mm, the ovate, basally cordate, deeply emarginate blade recurved through 90°, 2.8-3.1 mm long, 2.2-2.6 mm wide, recessed at base into a comet; wings 3.8-4 mm long, the claw 0.3-0.5 mm, the obovate blade 3.4-4 mm long, 2.4-2.8 mm wide; keel 5.2-5.8 mm long, the claws 1.3-1.7 mm, the blades 3.9- 4.5 mm long, 3-3.2 mm wide; androecium 10-merous ± 6.5 mm long, the longest filament free for 1.2-1.9 mm, the bluish, gland-tipped anthers 0.65-0.7 mm long; pod ± 2.5 mm long, not known fully ripe, apparently asymmetrically obovoid with terminal but excentric style-base, crested dorsally in the upper half, keeled along the leading edge ventrally, the firm, glabrous valves charged with two subvertical gland-crescents. — Collection: 1 (typus).
Oakwoods, around 1200 m ("4400-5000 ft"), known only from the type-locality at Talpa de Allende, on or near the Pacific slope in extreme western Jalisco. — Flowering February and March.
Marina dispansa (Rydb.) Barneby, comb. nov., based on Parosela dispansa (diffuse) Rydb., N. Amer. Fl. 24: 59. 1919.— "Type collected in the mountains near Talpa, Jalisco, March 7, 1897, E W. Nelson 4034.— Holotypus, US! isotypus, NY!
The specific status of M. dispansa will remain insecure until more can be learned about its stature, growth-habit, and range of dispersal. Rydberg contrasted it directly only with Parosela submontana (= one aspect of our Marina nutans), but it appears much more closely related to M. crenulata, which it resembles in details of the pleated, multiglandular calyx, the petals, and the fully formed but unripe pod. The whole flower of M. dispansa is small compared with the average flower of M. crenulata. The latter extends southward along the Sierra Madre Occidental and has been collected close to Talpa where it is represented by a form (Mexia 1881) characterized by uncommonly small flowers, although these are associated with the coarse wandlike stems typical of M. crenulata. It seems possible that the typus of M. dispansa will prove to be an abnormal or at least an unusual, diffusely and tortuously branching state of M. crenulata. It possesses, however, some small features not yet met with in its relative: slightly fewer, larger leaflets of thinner texture, fimbriolate across the top; narrowly margined leaf-rachis; coarsely Striped banner. The ripe pod may yet show differences in texture of the valves and pattern of the glands. The nearly sympatric M. grammadenia is more easily distinguished by its large banner open at the base and the nutlike pod charged all over with large blister-glands.
References: [Article] Barneby, Rupert C. 1977. Daleae Imagines, an illustrated revision of Errazurizia Philippi, Psorothamnus Rydberg, Marine Liebmann, and Dalea Lucanus emen. Barneby, including all species of Leguminosae tribe Amorpheae Borissova ever referred to Dalea. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 27: 1-892.Multimedia:
