Senna wislizeni (A.Gray) H.S.Irwin & Barneby var. wislizeni
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Authors
Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1982. The American Cassiinae. A synoptical revision of Leguminosae tribe Cassieae subtrib Cassiinae in the New World. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35, part 2: 455-918.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Holotypus (Isely, 1975, p. 210), GH!-Palmerocassia wislizeni (A. Gray) Britton ex Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23(4): 254 ("Wislizeniian impossible genitive). 1930.
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Synonyms
Cassia wislizeni A.Gray, Palmerocassia wislizeni (A.Gray) Britton
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Description
Variety Description - Secondary thorny branchlets 0, but the raceme axes sometimes stiffly or almost pungently persistent; vesture strigulose, the hairs up to 0.2-0.45 mm; primary lvs 12-34 mm, with 3 or 3-4 pairs of lfts, the largest 4-10 x 2.5-7.5 mm; ovules 22-25; otherwise as given in key. [Key: "Stipules of primary lvs more persistent, usually into or through maturity of the associated lf; valves of pod highly lustrous when ripe, elevated over each seed in the form of 2 transverse ridges, these sometimes joined at middle by a shorter vertical ridge; secondary venulation of lower face of lfts bluntly or sharply prominulous; centr. and n. Chihuahuan Desert n.-ward from lat. 25°N, extending feebly n.-w. into Sonora. Vesture of the whole plant appressed; desert n. from 27°N."]-Collections: 25.
Distribution and Ecology - Larrea scrub in foothills of desert mountains, often but not exclusively on limestone, 850-1570 m, widespread over the n. lobe of the Chihuahuan Desert from s.-e. Chihuahua and n.-w. Coahuila to the Rio Grande valley in trans-Pecos Texas (upstream from Presidio Co.), far s.-w. New Mexico and extreme s.-e. Arizona, thence feebly s.-w. and down to ±500 m into the Sonoran Desert in n. centr. Sonora.-Fl. (IV-)VI-XI.
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Discussion
This variety and the next differ collectively from the two foregoing in the glossy texture of the pod’s valves which become elevated over each seed in the form of two parallel transverse ridges across the proximal and distal edges of the locule. These ridges are sometimes connected by a vertical one, forming over the seed a depressed tent or blunt-angled pyramid such as is characteristic of some varieties of S. pallida.
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Common Names
Pinacate, yerba del pinacate
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Distribution
Chihuahua Mexico North America| Coahuila Mexico North America| Texas United States of America North America| New Mexico United States of America North America| Arizona United States of America North America| Sonora Mexico North America|