Dalea versicolor var. decipiens

  • Title

    Dalea versicolor var. decipiens

  • Authors

    Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Dalea versicolor var. decipiens Barneby

  • Description

    132b.  Dalea versicolor Zuccarini var. decipiens Barneby

    (Plate CXIX)

    Suffruticose becoming shrubby, freely branched distally, (5) 7-20 dm tall, the stems glabrous below, puberulent distally; stipules 0.5-1.5 mm long; foliage puberulent, green turning brown when dry; leaflets of primary leaves 6-12 pairs, obovate to obovate-oblanceolate, obtuse or emarginate, 1.5-5.5 mm long; spikes (10) 12-15 cm diam, the axis 5-23 mm long; calyx 5-6 mm, the tube 2.4-2.7 mm, the dorsal tooth 2.6-3.3 mm long; epistemonous petals rose-pink, the keel-blades pale at outer edge. — Collections: 4 (o).

    In oak or oak-pine woodland, 1000-2500 m, apparently local, known only from Sierra Madre del Sur in extreme w. Jalisco and s.-w. Michoacan. — Flowering November to April. —Material: Jalisco. Talpa de Allende: near Talpa, mar 1897, E. W. Nelson 4041 (NY, US). : Real Alto, La Bufa, feb 1927, Mexia 1613 (CAS, F, GH, MICH, NY, UC, US). Michoacan. Coalcoman: typus. Aguililla: n.-w. of Aguililla, McVaugh 22,685 (MICH).

    Dalea versicolor Zucc. subsp. versicolor var. decipiens (deceptive) Barneby, var. nov., inter var. versicolorem ac var. sessilem ambas procul allopatricas quasi ambigens, ab ilia stipulis abbreviatis petalisque roseis, ab hac statura elata foliolisque dorso glandulis nu- merosis parvulis conspersis abstans. — Michoacan. Coalcoman: woods, local, 1000 m, Coalcoman, feb 3, 1939, George B. Hinton 12,929. — Holotypus, NY; isotypus, US.

    A troublesome but highly interesting entity which serves as a geographical and morphological link between the otherwise widely separated northern and southeastern representatives of subsp. versicolor sens. lat. In general aspect var. decipiens suggests the form of var. versicolor found in Chiapas and Guatemala but differs in the short stipules and pink rather than reddish-purple or dull purple flowers. The characters by which it differs from var. versicolor are common to var. calcarata and var. sessilis, the collective range of which does not extend south of Sinaloa. Both of the latter may be distinguished from var. deccipiens by the plane green leaflets dotted beneath with few and large black glands, the var. calcarata further by its long calyx-teeth (3.3-5 not 2.6-3.3 mm), but in the context of the species this difference is likely to prove illusory as more material is studied. It will be of great interest to learn, as exploration of Sierra Madre del Sur continues, whether var. decipiens has a more continuous range through Guerrero into Pacific Oaxaca.