Lasianthaea ceanothifolia var. verbenifolia (DC.) K.M.Becker

  • Authority

    Becker, Kenneth M. 1979. A monograph of the genus Lasianthaea (Asteraceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 31 (2): 1-64.

  • Family

    Asteraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Lasianthaea ceanothifolia var. verbenifolia (DC.) K.M.Becker

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs, usually compact and with stiff branches, 1-4 m high; young branches strigose, sometimes sparingly so, to crisp-puberulent. Leaves with petiole rigid, 0.5-2 cm long, its margin hispid; blade firm, rigid, usually not rugose, oblong to lance-ovate, sometimes narrowly so, (2-)3-14 cm long, (1-) 2-7 cm wide, short-acute to obtuse, cuneate to rounded at base, more or less scabrous and hispid with short, appressed hairs above, short-hispid with appressed hairs below, especially along veins, margin regularly and usually closely serrate, triplinerved or occasionally subpenninerved, tertiary venadon conspicuous on larger leaves. Peduncles 2-4 cm long, strigose to crispedpuberulent. Involucre turbinate to broadly campanulate, (0.5-)0.7-0.8(-1.0) cm high, (0.3-)0.5-0.7(-0.9) cm wide, phyHaries graduated in 3-4 series. Outer phyllaries mostly oblong in outline, 3-5 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, strigose, often glabrate dorsally, inner phyllaries 6-7 mm long. Rays 8-13, lamina 6.5-9 mm long. Disc florets 12-24, 6.0-6.7 mm long. Disc achenes with body 4-5 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, awns 2-3.8 mm long, not exserted from heads.

  • Discussion

    verbenaefolia DC, Prodr. 5: 673, 1836. Zexmenia verbenaefolia (DC.) Blake, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 26: 255. Type: MEXICO: Nee s.n. (holotype: G; photos: NY, US(2)). Zexmenia cordifolia Blake, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 22: 633, 1924. Type: MEXICO: Nayarit: Near Acaponeta, 30 Jul 1897, Rose 3297 (holotype: US). Zexmenia microcephala Hemsl., Biol. Cent.-Am. Bot. 2: 173, 1881. Type: MEXICO: Nayarit: Between San Bias and Tepic, Sinclair 20 (holotype: K(herb. Hook.); fragment and photo: US; fragment: GH; photos: GH, US). Lasianthaea ceanothifolia var. verbenifolia replaces var. ceanothifolia in southwestern JaHsco, Nayarit, and extreme southwestern Sinaloa, where it is locally common; it is also found in extreme western Michoacan. It tends to prefer moister areas than does var. ceanothifolia. It is characterized by its usually fine-appressed pubescence, its mostly oblong, often subpenninerved leaves, and by its usuaHy non-exserted awns. It is closest to var. ceanothifolia, and overlaps it in distribution in the areas near Guadalajara, Jalisco, and Coalcoman, Michoacan. Variety verbenifolia, relative to var. ceanothifolia, is a morphologically homogenous taxon. The concept of L. ceanothifolia var. verbenifolia adopted here is not equivalent to Zexmenia ceanothifolia var. conferta (DC.) A . Gray (Lipochaeta umbellata S conferta D C ) , the type of which was from Morelos (and considered here to represent var. ceanothifolia). Much of the material here considered to represent var. verbenifolia has been termed "var. conferta''; the type of Calea verbenaefolia D C , a specimen of Nee at Geneva (!), represents var. verbenifolia as here understood. Zexmenia cordifolia Blake, based on depauperate material coHected in Nayarit, is ordinary var. verbenifolia well past flowering and fruiting.

  • Distribution

    Roadsides, riverbanks, stream valleys, woodlands, cultivated land; oak zone. Mostly at the western end of the Transverse Volcanic Belt in west-central Mexico (Map 4), at altitudes from near sea level to 1800 m . Blooming September to January and sporadically throughout the rest of the year.

    Mexico North America|