Callirhoe digitata Nutt.

Authority

Dorr, Laurence J. 1990. A revision of the North American genus (Malvaceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 56: 1-74.

Family

Malvaceae

Scientific Name

Callirhoe digitata Nutt.

Type

Type. United States. Arkansas: [?Sebastian Co.] "In the open prairies near Ft. Smith," May-Jun 1819, Nuttall s.n. (lectotype, here designated, B M ; isolectotypes, G, GH, K - 2 sheets, NY, PH).

Description

Species Description - Erect perennials, 5-20 dm tall. Taproots tuberous or napiform, variously branched or divided, to 2 dm long. Stems 1-4 per taproot, unbranched below the inflorescence, glabrous and glaucous, often sparingly pilose or strigose, with simple hairs. Basal and cauline leaves suborbicular, cordate or ovate, palmately (3-)5-10-cleft; leaf lobes linear, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, the apices acute, obtuse or rounded, the margins entire or deeply 2(-3)-cleft; basal leaves deeply divided, 4-15 cm long, 6-16(-20) cm wide, abaxial and adaxial surfaces strigose, with petioles 12-29 cm long, strigose, pilose or glabrous; cauline leaf blades deeply divided, 3.5-13 cm long, 7.5-17 cm wide, vestiture the same as that of basal leaves, with petioles 3-24(-28) cm long, vestiture the same as that of petioles of basal leaves. Stipules subulate, 6-7.5 mm long, 2.2-2.4(-4) mm wide, apices acute, margins ciliate with simple hairs, caducous (rarely present at anthesis). Inflorescence a panicle, 2.5-2.8 dm tall, much branched; flowering peduncles 4-18 cm long, bracts subtending peduncles small, caducous; fruiting peduncles 4-11 cm long; involucel absent. Flowers perfect; floral buds ovate, 6.5-9 mm tall, 4-6.5 mm broad, apices of sepals valvate, forming a very short, 1-2.5 mm tall projection, sutures conspicuous; calyx lobes deltoid, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 3.4-7(-9) mm long, 2.2-4.3 mm wide, abaxial surface glabrous, apices acuminate, margins often slightly revolute and exposing a thin band of wooly pubescence; petals vinaceous or deep red, with a white basal spot, 1.8-3.1 cm long, 1.3-2 cm wide, apices erose-denticulate or fimbriate; staminal column 8-12 mm long, upper 1/2-7/10 of column antheriferous, lower 3/10-1/2 pubescent with simply hyaline hairs; anther sacs white or red; stigmata red or pink. Fruit 8-8.5 mm in diameter; mericarps 11-18, rounded or subreniform, 3.5-4.5 mm tall, 2-2.7 mm wide, indehiscent, back and upper side margins rugose, sides indurate, reticulate, beaks small, incurved, 0.5-1.7 mm long, beaks, backs and upper side-margins glabrous, endoglossa conspicuous, collars absent or very weakly developed. Seeds black, reniform, 2.6 mm long, 2 mm wide. Compatibility unknown. Gametic chromosome number n = 14.

Discussion

Nuttallia digitata (Nuttall) Dick ex W . P. C. Barton, Fl. N. Amer. 2: 74, t. 62. 1822, nom. illeg. Monolix digitata (Nuttall) Rafinesque, First cat. gard. Transylv. Univ. 14. 1824, nom. illeg. Sida digitata (Nuttall) Sprengel, Syst. veg. 4(2): 259. 1827. Nuttallia palmata Torrey, Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 2: 171. 1827, nom. nud., sphalm. pro digitata. Malva digitata (Nuttall) Torrey & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 227. 1838. Sesquicella digitata (Nuttall) Alefeld, Oesterr. Bot. Z. 12: 256. 1862, nom. illeg. Nuttall had dried specimens as well as cultivated material available to him when he described this species. The cultivated material plays a fairly prominent role in his protologue, but none of it appears to have been vouchered with herbarium specimens. The labels on the collections of Callirhoe digitata made by Nuttall in "Arkansa" have diflferent generic names, but this probably only reflects Nuttall's initial uncertainty as to the disposition of this species. Nuttall evidently conferred with William Dick or saw Barton's Flora (1822) before these specimens were distributed since each ofthe labels also includes the generic name Nuttallia, which, as discussed in the section on Taxonomic History, was an alternate generic name proposed by Dick and published by Barton. The specimen at BM was selected as lectotype since it is the most complete specimen labelled by Nuttall, and it includes both flower and fruit. The specimen in the Schweinitz Herbarium (PH) is not appropriate as a lectotype since it appears to consist of two separate collections of C digitata mixed with a collection of C. alcaeoides (see also Stuckey, 1979). Figs. 1J, 3G, 4D, 5D, 10, 14. Callirhoe digitata is a striking plant. It is easily distinguished from other species of Callirhoe by its erect habit, size, (3-)5-10-cleft leaves, caducous stipules, and paniculate inflorescences. It and C. pedata are the only species that have galls created by Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) on their stems and peduncles. Callirhoe digitata is also one of two species (the other is C. bushii) restricted to the Ozark plateaus and Ouachita Mountains. Although distinctive, Callirhoe digitata is clearly related to the other exinvolucellate species of Callirhoe, i.e., C. pedata, C. alcaeoides, and C leiocarpa. In addition to lacking an involucel, these species are all diploid with a chromosome number of n = 14. Callirhoe digitata, C. leiocarpa, and most populations of C. pedata have glabrous and glaucous stems. The rosette leaves of C. digitata, which rarely persist, are cordate and crenate like those of the other exinvolucellate species. The stipules of C. digitata, present on plants before the inflorescence expands, are similar in shape to those of C. pedata and C. alcaeoides. The calyx lobes of a number of populations of C. digitata are deltoid, but other populations have lanceolate calyx lobes typical of other exinvolucellate species of Callirhoe. Finally, the mericarps of C. digitata consistently have small beaks, as do the mericarps of plants in Texas and central Oklahoma populations of C. pedata. The mericarp beaks of exinvolucellate species are otherwise large in comparison to the mericarps proper.

Common Names

Digitate-leaved Nuttallia, finger-leaved Nuttallia, fringed poppy mallow, finger poppy-mallow, finger wine cup

Distribution

Distribution and ecology. Ozark plateaus, Ouachita Mountains, and adjacent Cherokee Plains; southwestern Missouri, northwestem Arkansas, southeastem Kansas, and eastern Oklahoma. According to Steyermark (1959) it is a "glade endemic." Found most frequently on limestone or dolomitic glades, bald knobs and barrens, rocky prairies, and in open cherty woods. Evidently introduced in Clay Co., Missouri where it was collected along a railroad right-of-way. In Arkansas and Missouri it is occasionally sy

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