Hackelia patens (Nutt.) I.M.Johnst. var. patens

  • Authority

    Gentry, Johnnie L. & Carr, Robert L. 1976. A revision of the genus Hackelia (Boraginaceae) in North America north of Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 26: 121-227.

  • Family

    Boraginaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Hackelia patens (Nutt.) I.M.Johnst. var. patens

  • Description

    Variety Description - Lower part of the stem strigose or sometimes with merely subappressed hairs. Leaves without evidently pustulate-based hairs. Chromosome number, n = 24.

  • Discussion

    Rochelia patens Nutt., Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 7: 44. 1834. Echinospermum patens (Nutt.) G. Don., Gen. Syst. Gard. 4: 373. 1838. Echinospermum subdecumbens Parry, Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Sci. 1: 148. 1876, nom. provis. Lappula subdecumbens A. Nels, in Coulter & Nels., New Man. Bot. Cent. Rocky Mts. 412. 1909. Lappula decumbens A. Nels, ex Brand, Pflanzenr. IV. 252(Heft): 126. 1931. Type: UTAH. Wasatch Mountains, 1875, C. C. Parry s.n. (possible type ISC 276417!). Lappula coerulescens Rydb., Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 328. 1900. Lappula subdecumbens (var) coerulescens (Rydb.) Garrett, Spring Fl. Wasatch Reg. 78. 1911. Hackelia diffusa var coerulescens (Rydb.) I. M. Johnst., Contr. Gray Herb. 68: 48. 1923. Hackelia coerulescens (Rydb.) Brand, Pflanzenr. IV. 252(Heft 97): 130. 1931. Type: MONTANA. Bridger Mountains, June 18, 1897, Rydberg & Bessey 4899 (holotype, NY!, isotypes CAN!, GH!, K!, MIN!, NY!, RM!, US!, WS!, WTU!). Hackelia nelsonii Brand, Feddes Repert. Sp. Nov. 26: 170. 1929. Type: NEVADA. Elko County: open gravelly hillsides and banks, Jarbidge, elevation 7,000 feet, July 10, 1912, A. Nelson & Macbride 2007 [B (?) isotypes GH!, MIN!, MO!, NY!, RM!, S U!, US!, UTC!]. Type. Near the Flat-Head River (Montana), June 8, 1833, N. B. Wyeth s.n. (holotype, BM!; isotype, PH!). Hackelia patens var patens is not known to occur in this area. The type was probably collected farther south than the collection data indicates. Hackelia patens var patens is a common and characteristic plant often found in sagebrush flats in most of the Intermountain Region. It is characterized by the white corolla marked with distinct bluish spots near the throat, or sometimes with a bluish tinge throughout in addition to the darker blue spots, the papillate-hairy fornices, and strigose and subappressed pubescence. The affinities are with Hackelia brevicula, H. cronquistii, and possibly H. cinerea. It is readily separated from H. brevicula and H. cronquistii by the papillate-hairy fomices. From H. cinerea it differs in the corolla and ornamentation of the nutlets. Hackelia cinerea has a white corolla, the stem with at least some spreading hairs throughout, and the marginal prickles of the nutlets united for at least one-third their length, whereas in H. patens var patens the white corolla is marked with distinct bluish spots near the throat or sometimes with a bluish tinge throughout in addition to the darker blue spots, the stem with appressed and subappressed hairs, and the marginal prickles of the nutlets distinct or only slightly connate at their bases. Hackelia patens var patens overlaps the range of H. cinerea in Custer, Lemhi, and Blaine Counties, Idaho, but there is no evidence of intergradation. The most notable morphological variation in variety patens is represented in a collection from White Pine Lake, Cache County, Utah, Maguire 14250, in which the intramarginal prickles are absent. Two collections from White Pine County, Nevada; 7 miles east of Ely, 2,400-3,000 m, A. E. Hitchcock 1281 (US) and Ward Mountain, E. C. Jaeger s.n. (RSA) have a few nutlets of the inflorescence without intramarginal prickles. These plants are otherwise like typical variety patens. The pubescence of the fomices shows some morphological variation in a collection from the Deep Creek Mountains, Juab County, Utah, Cottam 3231 (BRY, PH), in which the fomices are long papillate-puberulent rather than the typical papillate-hairy pubescence. A collection from Kane County, Utah, 15 miles northwest of Orderville, Left Fork of Headwaters of Virgin River, frequent, on open dry flats under yellow pine, Maguire 18871 (GH, MO, NY, UTC) is difficult to place. The plant is described as follows: Plant 9 dm tall, appears to be a short lived perennial; leaves hirtellous; inflorescence elongate; corolla white, the limb 6 mm wide, the lobes marked with two light blue spots near the throat; fornices merely papillate, the protuberance somewhat rounded; nutlets immature, with 4-7 intramarginal prickles. The general aspect of the plant, the inflorescence, size of the corolla, and fornix size, shape and pubescence are suggestive of Hackelia floribunda whereas the corolla coloration and characteristics of the nutlets are suggestive of H. patens. This collection could represent intergrades between H. patens var patens and H. floribunda or a morphological variant of H. patens that might prove to be worthy of formal recognition. Additional collections from this general area are required for further study. The following collections of variety patens are of doubtful locality: Wann 69 and 70, Medicine Bow Mountains and M. E. Jones 25002, Wallowa Lake, Oregon. These collections would represent range extensions if the localities were confirmed. See comments under Hackelia brevicula and H. cronquistii.

  • Distribution

    Habitat and distribution (Fig. 15). Mostly in dry open places, often with sagebrush or Pinyon-Juniper, sometimes on talus slopes or rocky cliffs at elevations of 4,500 to 8,000 feet (seldom as high as 10,600 feet), southwestern Montana (east of the continental divide) to the mountains at the head of the East Fork of the Salmon River in central Idaho, south to western Wyoming, southcentral Utah and northern Nye County in Nevada. Flowers from late April to June.

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