Dalea caeciliae Harms
-
Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
-
Authority
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.
-
Family
Fabaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Type
"Habitat in Mexico, in prov. Oaxaca, in distr. Teposcolula, in Cerro del Pueblo viejo: Seler n. 1410." — Holotypus, formerly B, destroyed; isotypus, collected 26 September, 1905, by C. & E. Seler, US!
-
Description
Species Description - Herbaceous or in age weakly suffrutescent, 3.5-7.5 dm tall, the (1) 3-several stems erect and ascending from a tough yellow root, simple or few-branched distally, charged throughout with elevated, tack-shaped verrucae up to 0.15-0.2 mm tall, stramineous or lurid, faintly striate, the foliage (at least the leaf-rachis and margins of leaflets) pilosulous with fine ascending hairs up to 0.3-1 mm long, the leaflets bicolored, yellowish-green and either glabrous or pilosulous above, beneath glabrous or more thinly pilosulous and punctate, but some axillary leaf-spurs arising late in the season with leaflets densely pilosulous both sides and silvery-gray; leaf-spurs 0.5-1.4 mm long; stipules subulate to narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-3.5 mm long, glabrous or ciliolate, pubescent within, glabrous and glandular dorsally; intrapetiolular glands small; post-petiolular glands rounded, not very prominent; leaves petioled, the petiole and rachis densely verruculose, the main cauline ones 4-8 cm long with 3-5 distant pairs of obovate, obtuse to truncate but often minutely apiculate or gland-mucronate, flat or loosely folded leaflets 6-14 mm long, the terminal leaflet stalked beyond the last pair, the upper leaves and spur-leaves shorter, with 2-3 pairs of similar but smaller leaflets; peduncles mostly leaf-opposed, (1.5) 2.5-7 (9) cm long; racemes loose and narrow, the flowers 2-ranked when pressed, without petals 7-9 mm diam, the pilosulous axis finally 3-9 (11) cm long; bracts persistent at least until fall of the fruit, loosely spreading-incurved, narrowly lance-elliptic, boat-shaped, carinate dorsally, 3-5.5 (6) mm long, membranous-margined below middle, dorsally glabrous to thinly pilosulous, glandular, within pilosulous; calyx 3.8-4.5 mm long, the tube 2.4-3 mm long, the ventral sinus somewhat recessed and the orifice hence oblique, either glabrate or thinly pilosulous externally, the ribs slender, livid-nigrescent, the broad, plane, glossily membranous intervals charged with 1-2 rows of ± 5-7 small golden glands, the broadly ovate- or deltate-triangular, gland-tipped teeth unequal, the dorsal one 1.2-1.9 mm long, the ventral pair shorter and broader; petals bicolored, the banner opening greenish-yellow or creamy, sometimes with pink-tipped basal lobes, fading dull purplish, the epistemonous ones rich blue beyond the paler base, perched 2.7-5 mm above hypanthium, the banner often charged with a few scattered glands on the blade and, like the keel, with a small subapical gland; banner 5.6-7.3 mm long, the claw 2.5-3.4 mm, the blade deltate-obcordate, openly emarginate, slightly callous but open at base, 3.4-4 mm long, 3.8-4.8 mm wide, recurved at about 40° from claw; wings 4.2-5.7 mm long, the claw 0.5-0.8 mm, the ovate blade 3.9-5.2 mm long, 2.3-2.9 mm wide; keel 5.3-6.9 mm long, the claws 1-1.7 mm, the broadly obliquely ovate blades 4.6-5.7 mm long, 3.4-4.4 mm wide; androecium 9-10-merous, 6.7-11 mm long, the longer filaments free for 2-3.2 mm, the connective gland-tipped, the anthers 0.6-0.85 mm long; pod obovate in profile, 2.8-3.4 mm long, the style-base latero- terminal, the valves hyaline and glabrous in lower 1/2 thence papery, finely reticulate, distally thinly pilosulous and charged with a few tiny scattered glands, the ventral suture filiform; seed pale brown, 2-2.4 mm long; 2n = 14 (Mosquin).— Collections: 5 (ii).
Distribution and Ecology - Arid rocky limestone hills, 1880-2200 m (± 5600-7350 ft), locally abundant but known from only two small areas: on and near the Atoyac-Papaloapan divide in e.-centr. Puebla (mpos. Acatzingo and Santiago Miahuatlan); headwaters of Rio Mixteco in n.-centr. Oaxaca (mpo. Teposcolula).— Flowering June to December, perhaps also in spring.
-
Discussion
(Plate LXXIII)
The very distinct D. caeciliae may be recognized instantly by the tack-shaped warts densely clothing the rather tall, wiry stems, combined with a narrow spiciform raceme of blue flowers, each standing on a short footstalk in the axil of a long-persistent bract. The structure of calyx and petals is almost that of presumably related species of ser. Parosela, but the banner has a proportionately much shorter claw.
This species seems to have been collected first by Karwinski in 1827, but no exact locality was recorded and the specimen lay until recently unnamed in the Munich herbarium. Because each of the two localities known in Puebla lies close to one of the principal colonial highways leading from Veracruz to the central plateau, it might easily have been among the unidentified daleas which, collected by the Botanical Mission to Nueva España in late XVIII century, reached the Lambert herbarium through Pavon and were there described by George Don. But I have failed to link it with any described name. The first specimens known to me were seen to be distinct from anything described by Rydberg, and some collections from Acatzingo collected by Arsene and collaborators were accordingly annotated with an unpublished name ("fraterna"). Later on I not only collected topo- types of D. caeciliae but also found the cited isotypus in the National Herbarium, and was thereby enabled to establish the hitherto obscure identity of the species.
-
Objects
Material: Puebla. Acatzingo: near Acatzingo, Arsene & Amable in July 1907 (BR, s. n., US, numbered 2033, 2037); ibid. in Dec 1909, Fr. Nicolas s. n. (F, L) and distrib. Arsene 5071 (US). Santiago Miahuatlan: Azumbilla, Ripley & Barneby 14,736 (CAS, GH, MEXU, MICH, NY, US). Oaxaca. Teposcolula: San Juan Teposcolula, Ripley & Barneby 14,687 (ARIZ, CAS, DAO, F, GH, IA, K, MEXU, MICH, UC, US, approximate topotypi). Mexico, sine loc., Karwinski 5754 (M).
-
Distribution
Puebla Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Mexico North America|