Carlowrightia lesueurii Henrickson & T.F.Daniel
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Authority
Daniel, Thomas F. 1983. Carloivrightia (Acanthaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 34: 1-116. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Acanthaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Mexico. Chihuahua: Meoqui, 6 Aug 1936, LeSueur 864 (UC!, holotype; ARIZ!, CAS!, F!, GH!, MO!, SMU!, TEX!, UC!, isotypes).
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Description
Species Description - Erect to spreading, suffrutescent perennial to 3 dm high, arising from a woody caudex to 10 mm in diameter or a woody rhizome to 4 mm in diameter. Older stems quadrate to terete or with corky bark. 0.8-3.0 mm in diameter, pubescent or glabrate. Younger stems green, quadrate to terete, smooth to multistriate, 0.50.8 mm in diameter, densely pubescent, the trichomes eglandular, erect to flexuose, 0.1-0.4 mm long (hirsutulous-strigose). Leaves ascendent, petiolate; petioles 0.5-2.0 mm long, pubescent like younger stems; laminas narrowly lanceolate to elliptic to obovate, 3-13 mm long, 0.5-4.6 mm wide (often reduced in size acropetally), mostly 1-4 times longer than wide, attenuate to acute at base, acute to rounded at apex; margins flat, entire, hirsutulous-strigose-ciliate; surfaces pubescent like the younger stems; several orders of venation evident. Reduced dichasia usually solitary at the nodes, sessile or short pedunculate in leaf axils, the peduncles 0.5-2.0 mm long. Flowers 1-3 per dichasium, each sessile or short (to 0.5 mm long) pedicellate, subtended by 2 bractlets. Bractlets linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 3-7 mm long, 0.5-0.9 mm wide, pubescent like leaves. Secondary bractlets (if present) linear, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 0.4-0.6 mm wide. Calyx 2.5-4.5 mm long, the outer surface pubescent like bractlets, the inner surface sericeous with appressed trichomes to 0.4 mm long; tube 0.5-1.0 mm long; lobes subulate, 1.5-3.5 mm long, 0.4-0.5 mm wide at base. Corolla with a papillate eye on the upper lip, 79 mm long, pubescent on the outer surface with trichomes 0.1-0.3 mm long; tube 2.5-3.0 mm long. 1.0-1.3 mm in diameter; upper lip oblanceolate to spatulate, 4.0-6.5 mm long. 1.5-2.5 mm wide, emarginate at apex; lower lip 5-6 mm long, the lateral lobes oblanceolate to elliptic, 4.5-5.5 mm long, 1.8-2.5 mm wide, the lower lobe oblanceolate, 4.5-5.0 mm long, 2.0-2.5 mm wide. Stamens 4.0-4.5 mm long; filaments 3.5-4.2 mm long, 0.2 mm wide at base, pubescent with trichomes 0.1 mm long; thecae 0.9-1.1 mm long. Disc 0.2-0.3 mm high. Style 6.0-6.5 mm long, glabrous. Stigma lobes 0.3 mm long. Capsules 8-9 mm long, pubescent with eglandular trichomes 0.1-0.4 mm long; stipe 2.3-3.0 mm long; head flattened, 5-6 mm long (including a terminal beak 0.5-0.9 mm long), 3.5-4.0 mm wide; retinacula 1.3-2.0 mm long. Seeds usually 4 per capsule, flat, obliquely cordate in outline, 3.5-4.0 mm long, 3.5-3.8 mm wide, rounded to acute at apex; testa smooth to papillose; margins dentate, the teeth with retrorse barbs. Flowering. Carlowrightia lesueurii has been collected in flower in August and September, but as the species is known only from two collections, the extent of the flowering period is unknown.
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Discussion
Discussion. Plants of this rare species, known from only two collections from central Chihuahua, were not located in the field during this study; therefore, the color of the corolla and stamens and the precise floral morph are not known. Based on the dried and pressed corollas and on other morphological features, however, C. lesueurii can be placed in section Mexicana. Although it has pubescent capsules like both C. purpurea and C. trichocarpa, its closest relative, as noted by Henrickson and Daniel (1979), may be C. mexicana. Carlowrightia lesueurii differs from this species by its longer bractlets and style, its shorter, pubescent capsules, and its seeds with dentate margins.
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Distribution
This species has been collected in the desert of east-central Chihuahua at elevations between 1100 and 2000 meters. Although its precise habitat is not known, it probably occurs in washes on rocky slopes.
Mexico North America| Chihuahua Mexico North America|