Narratives – The Barneby Catalogue

Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra californica

15. Calliandra californica Bentham, Bot. Voy. Sulphur 14, pl. 11. 1844. — “[MEXICO. Baja California Sur:] Bay of Magdalena . .. 24°38'N.” — Holotypus, collected by Barclay & Hinds in Nov. 1839, K! labeled "Hinds, 1841”; isotypus, Barclay 3102, BM!. — Feuilleea californica O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. PI. 1: 187. 1893. Anneslia californica Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 59. 1928.

Anneslia mixta Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 59. 1928.— “San Jose del Cabo, Lower California, September 24, 1890, [T. S.] Brandegee 194” — Holotypus, NY!; isotypus, UC n.v.

A. mucronulata Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 60. 1928. — “San José del Cabo, Lower California, March 16, 1911, [J. N.] Rose 16473.” — Holotypus, NY!; isotypus, US!.

Calliandra californica sensu Bentham, 1844: 105; 1875: 552; Standley, 1922: 386; Wiggins, 1964: 594; Fl. Baja Calif. 703. 1980; Lenz, Fl. Cape Region 60. 1992; Anon., Desert Pl. 10(4): 156, 176 (color photo). 1993.

Stiffly repeatedly branched, either erect or diffuse-depressed, desert shrubs (0.5-)0.8-2 m tall with terete fuscous annotinous and older stems and lateral short-shoots variably extended following rains, diverse in pubescence, the lvs glabrous through thinly strigose to pilosulous with fine, mostly straight appressed but sometimes flexuous and spreading hairs to 0.4-0.9 mm, the firm plane lfts becoming dove-gray above, brownish beneath, either equally pubescent on both faces, or pubescent beneath only, or glabrous overall, the capitula of red-crimson-stamened fls solitary or geminate in lf-axils of actively growing, either terminal or lateral branchlets; phyllotaxy indecisive, mostly spiral, sometimes distichous in part. Stipules linear-lanceolate or narrowly lance-triangular (1-)1.5-4.5 (-6.5) x 0.3-1.1 mm, faintly l-3(-5)-nerved, becoming dry and tardily deciduous. Lf-formula i-iii(-iv)/ 5—12(—21); lf-stk of primary lvs (1.5—)2.5—16 mm, the petiole (1.5—)2.5—10 mm, at middle 0.25-0.55(-0.8) mm diam, the one or the longest interpinnal segment 2-7 mm; rachis of distal (or only) pair of pinnae 6-26(-28) mm, the longer interfoliolar segments (0.75-)0.9-3.8(-4) mm; lft-pulvinules 0.15-0.4 (-0.45) x 0.2-0.4(-0.5) mm, not wrinkled; lfts either subequilong or smaller proximally, the blades narrowly oblong to ovate-oblong or oblong-elliptic from shallowly semicordate or obtusangulate base, obtuse apiculate, straight or rarely subincurved, the larger ones (3.4—)3.7—8(—11.2) x (l-)1.4-3.2(-5.5) mm, (2—)2.1—3.1(—3.4) times as long as wide; venation weak, prominulous only dorsally, the midrib only a trifle displaced from mid-blade, 2-3-branched on each side from near or above middle, the posterior primary nerve simple, short, faint. Peduncles (4-)6-17(-20) mm, ebracteate; capitula (5-)7-13-fld, the receptacle ±1-1.5 mm diam; bracts subulate, <1 mm, persistent; fls homomorphic (except some staminate only), subsessile, the pedicel (often obscure externally) 0.15-0.6(-0.8) x 0.3-0.6 mm; perianth 5-merous, usually strig(ul)ose, less often pilosulous overall, or sometimes glabrescent in lower half, or merely ciliolate, exceptionally glabrous overall; calyx submembranous, campanulate or hemispherical (1-) 1.2-1.7 x 1.2-1.8 mm, weakly 5-nerved, the depressed-deltate teeth 0.25 mm or less; corolla (5.5-)5.8-7.2 mm, the lobes (1.6-) 1.8-2.4 mm; androecium 17-26(-30)-merous, (12-)17-24(-26) mm, the tube 2.8-4.2 mm, the stemonozone 0.4—0.8 mm; intrastaminal disc of bisexual fls 0.45-0.8 mm tall, lobed; ovary at anthesis glabrous. Pod 1-2 per capitulum, erect, in broad profile 4-8.5 x 0.8-1.1 cm, when well fertilized 4-7(-8)-seeded, the sutural ribs in dorsal view 1.2-1.8 mm wide, the stiffly chartaceous valves low-bullate over seeds, almost always densely puberulent overall, sometimes canescently so, exceptionally glabrous; ripe seeds not seen.

Along boulder-strewn desert washes and on dry hillsides with Idria, Pachycormus, and numerous Cactaceae, near sea level to 550 m, locally abundant, endemic to the peninsula of Baja California, from near 30°N in s. state of Baja California s. to the Cape region in Baja California Sur. — Map 8. — Fl. IX-V, most prolifically following storms, sporadically even in the hot dry summer months. — Chuparosa; tabardilla, applied also to C. peninsularis.

Calliandra californica is obviously related to C. eriophylla, from which Britton & Rose (1928: 50, key) separated it by the feeble and ineffective character of leaflets 4-6 (not 3-4) mm long. Its imperfectly distichous phyllotaxy, filaments crimson-scarlet their whole length, flowers slightly more numerous (7-13) per capitulum, perianth a bit longer (5.5-7.2, not 3.4-5.5 mm), and allopatric dispersal are stronger, but not very strong supporting differences, and a case for demoting one or the other to varietal rank could be made. Unfortunately, if this were proposed, priority would require C. californica, published in mid- January 1844, to retain specific rank and C. eriophylla, much more widely used and published on February 1 of the same year, to be subordinated. I gladly leave the decision in other hands.

For a species of relatively narrow range (Map 8) and uniform desert ecology, C. californica is surprisingly variable in leaf-formula and indumentum. These modes of variation, however, are correlated neither with one another nor with dispersal. Extreme variants, such as Hughes 1546 (NY), which has relatively few and ample, glabrous leaflets and completely hairless perianth, and Nelson & Goldman 7411 (NY), which has many small, dorsally silky leaflets and hairy perianth, are instantly perceived as different. Both are from the Cape region and each is connected by intermediates with genuine C. californica from Magdalena Bay and with the taxonomically negligible Anneslia mixta and A. mucronulata. The former, the closely similar Wiggins 5675 (NY), both from near Miraflores, and Lehto 19671 (NY) from cultivation in Arizona, together suggest passage into the related C. peninsularis, found close at hand but at greater elevations (in the oak-pine belt) in Sierra de Victoria.

References: [Article] Barneby, Rupert C. 1998. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part III. Calliandra. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-223.