Dalea coerulea var. coerulea

Title

Dalea coerulea var. coerulea

Authors

Rupert C. Barneby

Scientific Name

Dalea coerulea (L.f.) Schinz & Thell. var. coerulea

Description

77a.  Dalea coerulea (Linnaeus fil.) Schinz & Thellung var. coerulea

(Plate LXXIX)

Spikes 3-12 (14) cm long, without petals mostly 11-15, rarely 17 mm diam; inner petals usually vivid dark blue, rarely purple (exceptionally white); calyx-tube either glabrous or pilose, glandular at base only or from base to apex, the teeth always pilose, in fruit plumose, the longest (dorsal) one 2.7-4.7 (5.5) mm long, when relatively long recurving in age and often obscurely hooked at tip. — Collections: 81 (o).

Paramos, rocky and brushy hillsides, and on cliffs and talus in canyons, sometimes becoming weedy in overgrazed pasture or in hedges, common and locally plentiful at 24— 3450 m in the northern Andes, from n. Cordillera Oriental in Norte de Santander, Colombia, s. mostly e. of the Continental Divide through Ecuador into Amazonas (Chachapoyas), Peru, in Ecuador descending locally on dry cliffs and river-terraces to 1350-1800 m. — Flowering almost throughout the year. — Representative: COLOMBIA. Norte de Santander: Schlim 299 (F). Santander: Killip & Smith 18,007 (F, NY, US). Antioquia: F. A. Barkley 18A175 (US). BoyacA: Triana s. n. (NY). Cundinamarca: Pennell 2184 (NY, US), 2215 (F, NY, US). Narino: Ewan 16,225 (IAN, US). Valle de Cauca: Holton 14 (NY). Cauca: Killip 6881 (NY). Putumayo: Schultes & Cabrera 18,889 (NY, US). ECUADOR. Carchi: Wiggins 10,663 (NY, UC, US). Imbabura: A. S. Hitchcock 20,816 (NY, US). Pichincha: J. N. & G. Rose 23,545 (F, NY, US); Hartweg 955 (NY, OXF). Cotopaxi: Andre s. n. in 1876 (NY). Tungurahua: Pachano 118 (NY, US). Bolivar: Acosta Solis 5892, 6835 (F). Chimborazo: Rimbach 598 (F, NY). Canar: Camp 2777 (F, NY, US). Azuay: Camp E-1881 (F, NY, US); Maguire 61,687 (NY). PERU. Amazonas: Chachapoyas: Hutchinson & Wright 4930 (F, NY, UC, US).

Dalea coerulea (Linn. f.) Schinz & Thell., Mem. Soc. neuchatel. Sci. Nat. 5: 370. 1913, based on Galega coerulea (blue) Linn, f., Suppl. 335. 1781. — "Habitat in America meri- dionali. Mutis." — Holotypus not examined, but the identity accepted since Kunth, 1. c. infra. — Tephrosia coerutea (Linn, f.) Pers., Syn. Pl. 2: 329. 1807. Dalea mutisii (Jose Celestino Mutis, 1732-1808) Kunth, Mimoses 161, tab. XLVII. 1819. Parosela coerulea (Linn, f.) Macbr., Contrib. Gray Herb., New Ser. 65: 23. 1922.

Dalea astragalina (resembling some Astragalus) H. B. K., Nov. Gen. & Sp. (Folio) 6: 484. 1823. — "Crescit prope Quito et in montosis Popayensium (Volcan de Purace), alt. 1500-1700 hex..." — Holotypus, Humboldt & Bonpland 2012 from "Purace," P (herb. H. B. K.)! — Parosela astragalina (H. B. K.) Killip ex Macbr., Field Mus., Bot. 4: 109. 1927.

This is the common bushy blue-flowered dalea of the northern Andes, collected repeatedly around Bogota and Quito. In Colombia it is sympatric with D. cuatrecasasii, distinguished by deciduous bracts and short calyx-teeth, and southward from Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador with D. cylindrica var. nova, of which the calyx-teeth are at once shorter and glabrate apically. Variation in pubescence of the calyx is a conspicuous feature of var. coerulea; see the description and discussion in foregoing paragraphs. Over the whole extent of its range, the epistemonous petals of var. coerulea are vivid ultramarine or cobalt blue which fades little in well-prepared specimens. An occasional albino mutant occurs (Andre 683bis, NY). At low elevations (down to 1350 m) in the gorge of Rio Chan- chan in Prov. Chimborazo, Ecuador (Huigra and vicinity, J. N. & G. Rose 22,139, NY, US; Camp E-3009, NY, UC, E-3534, F, NY, UC, US), the species is represented by a form with magenta-purple flowers. The stations for this form lie well below the normal limit (at ± 2400 m) of var. coerulea, but apart from the peculiar flower-color there seems to be nothing distinct about this valley race.