Mertensia

Last updated

Mertensia
Flickr - Nicholas T - Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve (3).jpg
Mertensia virginica (type species)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Subfamily: Boraginoideae
Genus: Mertensia
Roth 1797
Type species
Mertensia virginica
Species

See text

Mertensia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. They are perennial herbaceous plants with blue or sometimes white flowers that open from pink-tinged buds. Such a change in flower color is common in Boraginaceae and is caused by an increase of pH in the flower tissue.[ citation needed ]Mertensia is one of several plants that are commonly called "bluebell". In spite of their common name, the flowers are usually salverform (trumpet-shaped) rather than campanulate (bell-shaped).

Contents

Mertensia is native to most of North America and to a large part of Asia from western China to northeastern Russia. [1] Its center of diversity is in the Rocky Mountains. Mertensia is mostly restricted to alpine, subalpine, and montane habitats. [2] Notable exceptions are Mertensia maritima, a maritime plant of Arctic and subarctic coastlines, and Mertensia virginica, which is found from the Appalachian Mountains west to Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. [1] Most of the species are endemic to very small areas of the Rocky Mountains.

Mertensia virginica has the largest flowers in the genus and is commonly cultivated. It is sparingly naturalized in Europe.[ citation needed ] About 12 other species are known in cultivation. [3] The Inuit ate the rhizomes of Mertensia maritima. [4]

Many of the species of Mertensia are hard to distinguish and some are possibly cryptic. [2] Around 150 species names have been published in Mertensia. [5] Most authors have recognized about 45 species, [4] but in 2014, the authors of a molecular phylogenetic study recommended the acceptance of at least 62. [1]

Species

Author citations are from Tropicos [5] or the International Plant Names Index. [6]

section Stenhammaria
section Mertensia (incomplete)

Mertensia dschagastanica Regel 1880 is probably a species of Stephanocaryum (S. dschagastanicum(Regel) O.D.Nikif. 2014).

Classification

Mertensia is a member of the tribe Cynoglosseae. [7] Its closest relative is the monotypic Eurasian genus Asperugo . These two are probably close to Anoplocaryum , a genus of Central Asia and Siberia. The relationships of Anoplocaryum have never been investigated by cladistic analysis of DNA sequences.

Taxonomy

The type species for Mertensia is M. virginica. [8] Mertensia is divided into two sections: Stenhammaria and Mertensia. Section Stenhammaria consists of the circumboreal M. maritima and 11 of the 12 species from Asia. [2]

The Central Asian species, M. dschagastanica, is assigned to section Stenhammaria, but it is morphologically unusual and might constitute a third section of Mertensia. It has never been sampled for DNA.

Section Mertensia consists of all of the North American species plus M. rivularis, a denizen of the Russian half of the Beringian floristic region.

The North American species M. pilosa has been reported from Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. [9] [10] It is the only species of Mertensia that is native to both Asia and North America. It resembles M. rivularis and might be closer to that species than to the other species of North America. It also resembles M. platyphylla and some authors have placed it in synonymy under Mertensia platyphylla variety platyphylla.[ citation needed ] It has not yet been sampled in a molecular phylogenetic study.

With the possible exception of M. pilosa, North American Mertensia is a monophyletic group consisting of three clades that are known informally as the Pacific Northwest clade, the Southern Rocky Mountain clade, and the Central Rocky Mountain clade. [1] These groups are named for the region where most of their species occur, but each includes species from well outside of that region.

History

In 1753, in his landmark Species Plantarum , Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus placed five species in the genus Pulmonaria . [11] Albrecht Wilhelm Roth, in 1797, separated what are now M. virginica, M. maritima, and M. sibirica from Pulmonaria to form the genus Mertensia, [6] based on their smaller and differently structured calyx, their different anther position, and the presence of nectar glands on the inner surface of the corolla. [12] Roth described one species as Mertensia pulmonarioides, apparently unaware that Linnaeus had already described it as Pulmonaria virginica. [13] He thus created a superfluous synonym that has been a source of confusion ever since.

Mertensia was named after the German botanist, Franz Carl Mertens. [14]

In the time since Mertensia was erected in 1797, it has been the subject of six major revisions. These, in chronological order, were done by George Don (George Don, the younger (G. Don), not George Don, the elder (Don)), [15] Asa Gray, [16] James Francis Macbride, [17] Per Axel Rydberg, [18] Louis Otho Williams, [19] and Mikhail Grigorevich Popov. [9] [10]

Asa Gray divided Mertensia into two sections: Stenhammaria and Mertensia. [20] The section Stenhammaria was named for the Swedish naturalist and clergyman Christian Stenhammar, who is best known for his work in lichenology. Gray defined the section Stenhammaria as consisting only of the littoral species M. maritima, but in 2014, it was expanded to comprise 12 species. [2]

In 1886, Asa Gray described seven species in Mertensia. After Gray completed his monograph of Mertensia, many species were discovered by botanical expeditions in the western United States. Many of the species recognized by Macbride and Rydberg were later placed in synonymy by Louis O. Williams in his treatment of North American Mertensia in which he accepted only 24 species, far fewer than Macbride and Rydberg. M. pilosa was not mentioned anywhere in the monograph by Williams, not even as a synonym. Popov (1953) recognized the same 24 North American species as Williams as well as 14 species from Asia, including M. pilosa. Phylogenetic analysis of DNA data has shown that many of the species are polyphyletic, but no comprehensive revision of the Asian or of the North American species has been attempted since 1953.

In 1967, one of the sections delineated by Popov was raised to the rank of genus as Pseudomertensia . [21] This reclassification has been confirmed by molecular phylogenies which place Pseudomertensia closer to Myosotis than any of the genera that have been sampled so far.

Evolution

In the earlier infrageneric classifications of Mertensia, some of the groups were based on shared "primitive" characters rather than the derived character states that show true phylogenetic relationships. In Mertensia, as elsewhere, such groups have often proved to be paraphyletic. More recently, molecular phylogenetics has greatly clarified the ancestral and derived character states in Mertensia. Some of the traits evolving later have appeared independently as many as seven times.

Ancestral states in Mertensia include short plant height (< 40 cm), long stamens (> 1.5 mm), filaments inserted higher in the corolla, calyces divided at least 2⁄3 of the way to the base, and acute to acuminate calyx lobe apices. Their derived alternatives are greater plant height (> 40 cm), short stamens (< 1.5 mm), filaments attached lower in the corolla, and calyces divided less than halfway to the base, and obtuse calyx lobe apices.

The nutlets and pollen of Mertensia are nearly uniform and consequently, are not of much taxonomic value. [22]

There are no known fossils of Mertensia. A molecular clock analysis has estimated that Mertensia diverged from Asperugo in the late Oligocene or early Miocene. Asperugo and Mertensia do not closely resemble each other morphologically. Being mostly plants of subarctic climates, Mertensia spread southward and to lower elevation during periods of Pleistocene glaciation, then retreated northward and to higher elevation during interglacials. [1] Mertensia originated in Asia and dispersed over the Beringian land bridge to North America. Most of the groups that originated in Asia are more diverse there, [23] [24] but Mertensia is a conspicuous exception in having most of its species in North America.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taxonomy of the Orchidaceae</span>

The taxonomy of the Orchidaceae (orchid family) has evolved slowly during the last 250 years, starting with Carl Linnaeus who in 1753 recognized eight genera. De Jussieu recognized the Orchidaceae as a separate family in his Genera Plantarum in 1789. Olof Swartz recognized 25 genera in 1800. Louis Claude Richard provided us in 1817 with the descriptive terminology of the orchids. (See External links below). The next step was taken in 1830-1840 by John Lindley, who recognized four subfamilies. He is generally recognized as the father of orchid taxonomy. The next important step was taken by George Bentham with a new classification, recognizing subtribes for the first time. This classification was first presented in a paper that Bentham read to the Royal Society in 1881. Then it was published in 1883 in the final volume of Genera Plantarum. The next great contributors were Pfitzer (1887), Schlechter (1926), Mansfeld (1937), Dressler and Dodson (1960), Garay (1960, 1972), Vermeulen (1966), again Dressler (1981). and Burns-Balogh and Funk (1986). Dressler's 1993 book had considerable influence on later work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monimiaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Monimiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the magnoliid order Laurales. It is closely related to the families Hernandiaceae and Lauraceae. It consists of shrubs, small trees, and a few lianas of the tropics and subtropics, mostly in the southern hemisphere. The largest center of diversity is New Guinea, with about 75 species. Lesser centres of diversity are Madagascar, Australia, and the neotropics. Africa has one species, Xymalos monospora, as does Southern Chile. Several species are distributed through Malesia and the southwest Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phrymaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Phrymaceae, also known as the lopseed family, is a small family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales. It has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, but is concentrated in two centers of diversity, one in Australia, the other in western North America. Members of this family occur in diverse habitats, including deserts, river banks and mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ochnaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Ochnaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales. In the APG III system of classification of flowering plants, Ochnaceae is defined broadly, to include about 550 species, and encompasses what some taxonomists have treated as the separate families Medusagynaceae and Quiinaceae. In a phylogenetic study that was published in 2014, Ochnaceae was recognized in the broad sense, but two works published after APG III have accepted the small families Medusagynaceae and Quiinaceae. These have not been accepted by APG IV (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altingiaceae</span> Family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales

Altingiaceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales, consisting of wind-pollinated trees that produce hard, woody fruits containing numerous seeds. The fruits have been studied in considerable detail. They naturally occur in Central America, Mexico, eastern North America, the eastern Mediterranean, China, and tropical Asia. They are often cultivated as ornamentals and many produce valuable wood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boraginales</span> Order of flowering plants within the lammiid clade of eudicots

Boraginales is an order of flowering plants in the asterid clade, with a total of about 125 genera and 2,700 species. Different taxonomic treatments either include only a single family, the Boraginaceae, or divide it into up to eleven families. Its herbs, shrubs, trees and lianas (vines) have a worldwide distribution.

<i>Mertensia virginica</i> Species of flowering plant

Mertensia virginica is a spring ephemeral plant in the Boraginaceae (borage) family with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers, native to eastern North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tofieldiaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Tofieldiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the monocot order Alismatales. The family is divided into four genera, which together comprise 28 known species. They are small, herbaceous plants, mostly of arctic and subarctic regions, but a few extend further south, and one genus is endemic to northern South America and Florida. Tofieldia pusilla is sometimes grown as an ornamental.

<i>Polyscias racemosa</i> Species of tree

Polyscias racemosa, or false 'ohe, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae. As Munroidendron racemosum, the species was until recently considered to be the only species in the monotypic genus Munroidendron. With the change in classification, Munroidendron is now obsolete. Polyscias racemosa is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It is very rare in the wild and some of its original habitat has been replaced by sugar cane plantations. It was thought for some time to be probably extinct, but was rediscovered a few years prior to 1967.

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

Raukaua is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. It has an austral distribution, being indigenous to southern Argentina and Chile, as well as New Zealand and the island of Tasmania.

Reynoldsia is a formerly recognised genus of plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. In 2003, Kew Gardens published a checklist for Araliaceae, in which eight species were recognized for Reynoldsia: four from Samoa, two from Tahiti, one from the Marquesas, and one from Hawaii. In 2010, a phylogenetic comparison of DNA data showed that Reynoldsia was polyphyletic, consisting of two groups that are not each other's closest relatives. In a companion paper, three of the species were "sunk" into synonymy with others, reducing the number of species to five. All species that were formerly in Reynoldsia are now in Polyscias subgenus Tetraplasandra, a subgenus of 21 species indigenous to Malesia and the Pacific islands.

Tetraplasandra is a no longer recognised genus of plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. They are small to medium trees, of mesic to wet forests.

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

Conradina is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. Its common name is false rosemary, or rarely, short leaf rosemary. There are 7 species of Conradina, all native to the southeastern United States. Conradina verticillata grows on the Cumberland Plateau in Kentucky and Tennessee. The other five grow mainly in Florida. All of the species are closely related and there is some doubt about whether they are all separate. Most species occupy xeric habitats with well-drained soils composed of white sand. The genus Conradina was established by Asa Gray in 1870. It was named for the American botanist Solomon White Conrad.

<i>Pachites</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the orchid family

Pachites is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It contains two known species, both endemic to South Africa. One of these, Pachites appressus, is very rare.

<i>Mertensia maritima</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae

Mertensia maritima is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, and is known by the common names oyster leaf in North America, oyster plant in the British Isles, and sea bluebells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coryciinae</span> Subtribe of flowering plants in the orchid family

Coryciinae is a subtribe of orchids that has been differently defined and placed in the two classification systems that are currently in use for orchids. Genera Orchidacearum, which is currently the definitive work on orchid taxonomy, delimits Coryciinae as consisting of five genera: Disperis, Evotella, Ceratandra, Pterygodium, and Corycium, and it places Coryciinae in the mostly African tribe Diseae, along with four other subtribes: Brownleeinae, Huttonaeinae, Disinae, and Satyriinae. The genera of Coryciinae are small to medium in size and the number of species in each genus is as follows: Disperis (78), Pterygodium (19), Corycium (15), Ceratandra (6), and Evotella (1).

<i>Pseudomertensia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the borage family Boraginaceae

Pseudomertensia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. They are perennial herbs with blue or bluish purple flowers. Their natural range is from Iran to the Himalayas. None have been found in China or Russia. P. echioides, and the type species for the genus, P. elongata, are occasionally cultivated as ornamentals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disinae</span> A subtribe of flowering plants belonging to the orchid family

Disinae is a subtribe of orchids that has been differently defined and placed in the two classification systems that are currently in use for orchids. Genera Orchidacearum, which is currently the definitive work on orchid taxonomy, delimits Disinae as consisting of two closely related genera, Disa and Schizodium, and it places Disinae in the mostly African tribe Diseae, along with four other subtribes: Brownleeinae, Huttonaeinae, Coryciinae, and Satyriinae. In the classification for orchids that was published by Chase et alii in 2015, Schizodium was placed in synonymy under Disa, while Pachites and Huttonaea were transferred to Disinae. In Genera Orchidacearum, Pachites and Satyrium form the subtribe Satyriinae, and Huttonaea is the sole genus in the subtribe Huttonaeinae. The transfer of Pachites and Huttonaea to Disinae by Chase et alii (2015) was done with considerable doubt, and was based upon uncertainty about the relationships of these two genera. In 2009, a molecular phylogenetic study found only weak statistical support for a sister relationship between Huttonaea and Disa.

<i>Chloropyron</i> Genus of plants

Chloropyron is a genus of plants in the botanical family Orobanchaceae. The plants of this group were formerly classified in the subgenus Hemistegia of the genus Cordylanthus, but were elevated to genus level by David C. Tank, John Mark Egger and Richard G. Olmstead in 2009 after molecular phylogenetic work.

<i>Mertensia sibirica</i> Species of flowering plant

Mertensia sibirica, commonly known as Japanese bluebells or Siberian bluebells, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Originally discovered by Carolus Linnaeus, who named it Pulmonaria sibirica, this plant is found, as its name implies, in Eastern Siberia and northern China. After review of the plant's morphology, its taxonomic position was changed to Mertensia sibirica by botanist and plant collector George Don, who put forth the notion of the change, which was eventually accepted, most likely due to the striking resemblance to the related species in the Americas like Mertensia virginica, or Virginia bluebells.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Mare Nazaire, Xiao-Quan Wang, and Larry Hufford. 2014. "Geographic origins and patterns of radiation of Mertensia (Boraginaceae)". American Journal of Botany101(1):104-118. doi : 10.3732/ajb.1300320.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Mare Nazaira and Larry Hufford. 2014. "Phylogenetic Systematics of the Genus Mertensia (Boraginaceae)". Systematic Botany39(1):268-303. doi : 10.1600/036364414X678107.
  3. ↑ Anthony Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (1992). The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. The Macmillan Press,Limited: London. The Stockton Press: New York. ISBN   978-0-333-47494-5 (set).
  4. 1 2 David J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. ISBN   978-0-521-82071-4 (see External links below).
  5. 1 2 Mertensia in Tropicos (See External links below).
  6. 1 2 Mertensia in International Plant Names Index. (see External links below).
  7. ↑ James I. Cohen. 2014. "A phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular characters of Boraginaceae: evolutionary relationships, taxonomy, and patterns of character evolution". Cladistics30(2):139-169. doi : 10.1111/cla.12036
  8. ↑ Mertensia In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see External links below).
  9. 1 2 Mikhail G. Popov. 1953. "Boraginaceae". pages 67-691 and 701-716. In: Boris K. Schischkin (editor). Flora of the USSR, volume 19 - Tubiflorae. Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR: Moskva, Leningrad,, Russia. (published by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR).
  10. 1 2 Rose Lavoott (translator). 1974. "Boraginaceae". pages 73-508 and 516-531. In: English translation of: Boris K. Schischkin (editor). Flora of the USSR, volume 19 - Tubiflorae. Keter Press: Jerusalem, Israel. For: Israel Program for Scientific Translations.
  11. ↑ Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné). 1753. Species Plantarum, 1st edition, 1:135-136. Holmiae: Impensis Laurentii Salvii (Lars Salvius). (A facsimile with an introduction by William T. Stearn was published by the Ray Society in 1957). (See External links below).
  12. ↑ Albrecht Wilhelm Roth. 1797. "Mertensia". Catalecta Botanica1:34-35. (See External links below).
  13. ↑ James S. Pringle. 2004. "Nomenclature of the Virginia-bluebell, Mertensia virginica (Boraginaceae)". SIDA, contributions to botany 21(2):771-775.(see External links below)
  14. ↑ Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, volume III. CRC Press: Baton Rouge, New York, London, Washington DC. ISBN   978-0-8493-2673-8 (vol. III). (see External links below).
  15. ↑ George Don (G.Don). 1838. "A general history of the dichlamydeous plants comprising complete descriptions of the different orders". volume 4 (Corolliflorae): Mertensia. pages 318-320, 372. Gilbert and Rivington: London, UK. (see External links below).
  16. ↑ Asa Gray. 1886. Synoptical Flora of North America, volume 2, part 1 (Gamopetalae after Compositae): "Boraginaceae": pages 177-207. Mertensia: pages 179, 199-201. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor, and Company: New York, NY, USA. (see External links below).
  17. ↑ James Francis Macbride. 1916. "The true mertensias of western North America". Contributions from the Gray Herbarium. New Series48:1-20. (see External links below).
  18. ↑ Per Axel Rydberg. 1922. Flora of the Rocky Mountains and Adjacent Plains, 2nd edition. Mertensia. pages 730-736. reprinted in 1954 by Hafner Publishing Company: New York, NY, USA. (see External links below).
  19. ↑ Louis Otho Williams. 1937. "A monograph of the genus Mertensia in North America". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 24 (1):17-159. (see External links below).
  20. ↑ Asa Gray. 1874. "Notes on Borraginaceae" (sic). Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences10(New Series volume 2):48-62. (see External links below).
  21. ↑ Harald Udo von Riedl. 1967. Pseudomertensia. pages 58-63. In: "Boraginaceae". pages 1-281. In: Karl Heinz Rechinger (editor). Flora Iranica, monograph 48. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt: Graz, Austria.
  22. ↑ Tomoko Fukuda and Hiroshi Ikeda. 2012. "Palynological analysis and taxonomic position of the genus Mertensia (Boraginaceae)". Botany90(8):722-730. doi : 10.1139/b2012-024.
  23. ↑ Sandy P. Harrison, G. Yu, H. Takahara, and Iain Colin Prentice. 2001. "Diversity of temperate plants in East Asia". Nature413(6852):129-130.
  24. ↑ Robert E. Ricklefs, Hong Qian, and Peter S. White. 2004. "The region effect on mesoscale plant species richness between eastern Asia and eastern North America". Ecography27(2):129-136.
  25. ↑ Mertensia Arizonica, Aspen Bluebells
  26. ↑ Teresa Prendusi, Short-styled Bluebell (Mertensia brevistyla)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.