Amsonia jonesii

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Amsonia jonesii
Amsonia jonesii - Shalana Gray 02.jpg
Status TNC G3.svg
Vulnerable  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Genus: Amsonia
Species:
A. jonesii
Binomial name
Amsonia jonesii
Synonyms [2]
  • Amsonia latifoliaM.E.Jones

Amsonia jonesii is a plant in the bluestar genus Amsonia known by the common name Colorado desert bluestar. It is in the dogbane family, but a separate genus. It grows in the deserts surrounding the Colorado River in the United States. It is now grown as a garden plant for its masses of light blue flowers and low water usage.

Contents

Description

Amsonia jonesii is a herbaceous plant that is a perennial. They are typically 20–50 centimeters tall when fully grown. It has alternate leaves, each leaf being attached to the stem by itself rather than being opposite another leaf. The leaves have smooth edges without teeth or divisions (entire leaf) and a leathery texture without hairs (glabrous). The shape of Amsonia jonesii's' leaves is like an egg with the widest portion towards the base (ovate leaf), sometimes a very broad egg (broadly ovate) and 3–6.5 centimeters long. [3]

Amsonia jonesii Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness, Colorado Amsonia jonesii - Shalana Gray 01.jpg
Amsonia jonesii Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness, Colorado

When flowering Amsonia jonesii has numerous, small, bright blue flowers with colored sepals that are fused at the base and divided into five parts resembling petals. [4] [3] The sepal lobes are 1–3 centimeters long where the true petals of the flower are just 4.5-8 millimeters long. The stamens are attached to the petals (episepalous). [3] The tube of the flower is closed by stiff inward pointing hairs. The chalky blue flowers are most often seen in the month of May. [5]

Taxonomy

The first scientific description of this species was by Marcus Eugene Jones in 1908. However, he named it Amsonia latifolia, a name that had been previously used 1803 and so it was Nomen illegitimum. Therefore the descirition and naming of the species by Robert Everard Woodson as Amsonia jonesii is held to be correct. [2]

Names

The genus name Amsonia was selected by John Clayton to honor Dr John Amson, a physician in colonial Virginia. [6] The species name, "Jonesii", is in honor of the same Marcus E. Jones, a mining engineer and scientist who first described the species. [5] Amsonia jonesii is known by the common name "Colorado desert bluestar" for its association with the deserts around the upper Colorado River, but is not found in the Colorado Desert. [7]

Distribution and habitat

The natural range of Amsonia jonesii is in the southwestern United States in just four states, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. [2] In Colorado it has a very limited distribution, only reported as growing in Mesa and Montazuma counties in the west of the state. [3] [8] It is much more widespread in Utah, recorded there in nine counties in the east and south of the state in the Colorado River drainage. It is likewise found in two Arizona counties, Mohave and Coconino, which border the river. It has only been recorded in San Juan County, New Mexico which borders Montezuma County, Colorado. [8]

It is an uncommon plant in its range, only being found in draws or dry washes that are seasonally fed by runoff in the spring. [5] It is often associated with pinyon-juniper or sagebrush plant communities on various soil types including sandy, gravelly, or occasionally clay soils. [3]

Conservation

Amsonia jonesii was evaluated by NatureServe as vulnerable (G3) in 2023. At the state level they evaluated it as vulnerable (S3) in Utah and imperiled (S2) in Colorado and Arizona. They have not yet evaluated the populations in New Mexico. [1]

Cultivation

Since the 1990s Colorado desert bluestar has become a recommended plant for xeriscaping by utilities and botanic gardens. [9] [4] It has a very low water usage and is adapted to a wide variety of soils from somewhat clay to sandy or gravelly soils. [10] It is deer resistant and hardy in USDA zones 4–8, [4] and may be hardy into zone 9. [10] It is also valued for not fading as much in summer heat, being long lived, and only requiring the removal of dead stems in the spring if a more cultivated appearance is desired. [10]

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<i>Berberis repens</i> Western North American species of barberry

Berberis repens commonly known as creeping mahonia, creeping grape holly, or creeping barberry, is a species of Berberis native to most of the western United States and two western provinces of Canada. It is low growing shrub that spreads by underground stems. As a species it is well adapted to fire and is a very common understory plant in western forests. An evergreen species, it provides food to deer and elk in winter and can make up a significant part of their diet. The berries are eaten by birds and small mammals, aiding it in spreading to recently disturbed areas. It has found use as a xeric ornamental plant and has escaped from cultivation in areas beyond its native range.

<i>Amsonia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Amsonia is a genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1788. It is native primarily to North America with one species in East Asia and another in the eastern Mediterranean. It was named in honor of the American physician John Amson. Members of the genus are commonly known as bluestars.

  1. Amsonia ciliataWalter – fringed bluestar – SE US, S Great Plains
  2. Amsonia elliptica(Thunb. ex Murray) Roem. & Schult. – Japanese bluestar – China, Japan, Korea
  3. Amsonia fugateiS.P.McLaughlin – San Antonio bluestar – New Mexico
  4. Amsonia grandifloraAlexander – Arizona bluestar – Arizona, Sonora, Durango
  5. Amsonia hubrichtiiWoodson – Hubricht's bluestar – Arkansas, Oklahoma
  6. Amsonia illustrisWoodson – Ozark bluestar – Mississippi Valley, also Nevada
  7. Amsonia jonesiiWoodson – Jones' bluestar – Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado
  8. Amsonia kearneyanaWoodson – Kearney's bluestar – Baboquivari in Pima Co. in Arizona
  9. Amsonia longifloraTorr. – tubular bluestar – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Coahuila
  10. Amsonia ludovicianaVail – Louisiana bluestar – Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia
  11. Amsonia orientalisDecne. – European bluestar – Greece, Turkey
  12. Amsonia palmeriA.Gray – Palmer's bluestar – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Sonora, Chihuahua
  13. Amsonia peeblesiiWoodson – Peebles' bluestar – Arizona
  14. Amsonia repensShinners – creeping bluestar – E Texas, SW Louisiana
  15. Amsonia rigidaShuttlw. ex Small – stiff bluestar – from Georgia to Louisiana
  16. Amsonia tabernaemontanaWalter – eastern bluestar – S + C + E United States
  17. Amsonia tharpiiWoodson – feltleaf bluestar – W Texas, SE New Mexico
  18. Amsonia tomentosaTorr. & Frém. – woolly bluestar – SW US; Chihuahua
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Amsonia hubrichtii, commonly known as Hubricht's bluestar, Arkansas bluestar, or thread-leaf bluestar, is a North American species of perennial flowering plant in the Apocynaceae (dogbane) family, first described in 1943. It is native to Oklahoma and Arkansas in the south-central United States. It is commonly used as an ornamental plant.

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<i>Amsonia tomentosa</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Funastrum utahense</i> Species of plant

Funastrum utahense, synonym Cynanchum utahense, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Funastrum of the family Apocynaceae, known by the common names Utah swallow-wort and Utah vine milkweed. This relatively uncommon perennial vine is native to the Mojave Desert from California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona in the United States. This is a small vine with a highly branched, twining stem rarely exceeding a meter in length with which it physically supports itself on other shrubs and trees. It has small narrow leaves a few centimeters long. Its flowers are bright yellow to orange and grow in umbels. The fruit is a grooved follicle several centimeters long.

<i>Argyrochosma jonesii</i> Species of fern in the family Pteridaceae

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<i>Deutzia gracilis</i> Plant in the hydrangea family

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<i>Amsonia kearneyana</i> Critically endangered plant species

Amsonia kearneyana is a rare species of flowering plant in the dogbane family known by the common name Kearney's bluestar. It is native to Arizona, where there is only one native population in the Baboquivari Mountains of Pima County. There may also be a population just south of the border in Sonora, Mexico. The plant was federally listed as an endangered species in 1989. At that time the global population of the plant was made up of eight individuals in a riparian canyon. Since that time the plant has been manually propagated in an attempt to increase its numbers. Threats to the tiny native population include habitat destruction from livestock activity and flash floods in the river canyon. Many of the plants cannot reproduce because their seeds are sterile and nonviable, but this is probably due to insect predation on the seeds as they develop.

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References

  1. 1 2 NatureServe (2023). "Amsonia jonesii". NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Amsonia jonesii Woodson". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ackerfield, Jennifer (2015). Flora of Colorado (1st ed.). Fort Worth, Texas: BRIT Press. p. 90. ISBN   978-1-889878-45-4.
  4. 1 2 3 "Amsonia jonesii". Chicago Botanic Garden. 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Weber, William Alfred (1987). Colorado Flora. Western Slope. Boulder, Colorado: Colorado Associated University Press. p. 96. ISBN   978-0-87081-167-8 . Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  6. ↑ Pringle, James S. (2004). "History and Eponymy of the Genus Name Amsonia (Apocynaceae)". SIDA, Contributions to Botany. 21 (1): 379–387. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  7. ↑ Pretty Tough Plants : 135 Resilient, Water-smart Choices for a Beautiful Garden. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. 2017. pp. 230–231. ISBN   978-1-60469-735-3 . Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  8. 1 2 Amsonia jonesii, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Profile, 9 November 2023
  9. ↑ "Colorado Desert Blue Star". Xeriscaping. Colorado Springs Utilities. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 "Colorado desert blue star". Plant Select. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
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