Saltugilia

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Saltugilia
Grants Gilia (4752166583).jpg
Saltugilia splendens ssp. grantii
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Polemoniaceae
Genus: Saltugilia
(V.E. Grant) L.A. Johnson
Species

4, see text

Synonyms

Gilia sect. Saltugilia

Saltugilia is a genus of flowering plants in the phlox family, Polemoniaceae. They are known commonly as woodland gilias. [1] There are four species. Two are endemic to California in the United States, and the distributions of the other two extend into Baja California in Mexico.

A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

Polemoniaceae family of plants

The Polemoniaceae are a family of about 25 genera with 270-400 species of annual and perennial plants, native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversity in western North America, especially in California.

Endemism ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location or habitat

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.

Contents

This genus was erected in the year 2000 to segregate three species from the genus Gilia on the basis of phylogenetic evidence. Analysis of DNA was used in the formation of the new taxon, and studies of other characteristics of the plants, such as morphological, palynological, and ecological traits, were considered. Saltugilia was a section of genus Gilia. These three species were classified in the new genus Saltugilia, [1] and the fourth was newly described to science in 2001. [2]

<i>Gilia</i> genus of plants

Gilia is a genus of between 25 and 50 species of flowering plants in the family Polemoniaceae, native to temperate and tropical regions of the Americas, from the western United States south to northern Chile, where they occur mainly in desert or semi-desert habitats.

Phylogenetics Study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms

In biology, phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms. These relationships are discovered through phylogenetic inference methods that evaluate observed heritable traits, such as DNA sequences or morphology under a model of evolution of these traits. The result of these analyses is a phylogeny – a diagrammatic hypothesis about the history of the evolutionary relationships of a group of organisms. The tips of a phylogenetic tree can be living organisms or fossils, and represent the "end", or the present, in an evolutionary lineage. Phylogenetic analyses have become central to understanding biodiversity, evolution, ecology, and genomes.

DNA Molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses. DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are nucleic acids; alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), nucleic acids are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.

Description

These plants are annual herbs producing solitary, branching stems 15 to 100 centimeters tall. Most of the leaves are arranged in a basal rosette around the stem. Most of the herbage is coated with trichomes tipped with glands. The inflorescence is an open array of branches bearing single and paired flowers. The funnel-shaped corollas are pink, lavender, blue, or white, with yellow spotting in the throat. The stamens bear blue pollen. [1]

Trichome

Trichomes, from the Greek τρίχωμα (trichōma) meaning "hair", are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant is an indumentum, and the surface bearing them is said to be pubescent.

Inflorescence term used in botany

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed. The modifications can involve the length and the nature of the internodes and the phyllotaxis, as well as variations in the proportions, compressions, swellings, adnations, connations and reduction of main and secondary axes. Inflorescence can also be defined as the reproductive portion of a plant that bears a cluster of flowers in a specific pattern.

Stamen floral organ

The stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium.

Diversity

<i>Saltugilia australis</i> species of plant

Saltugilia australis is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name southern gilia.

Chaparral shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the US state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the US state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and wildfire, featuring summer-drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found below the chaparral biome. Chaparral covers 5% of the state of California and associated Mediterranean shrubland an additional 3.5%. The name comes from the Spanish word chaparro, for evergreen oak shrubland.

Saltugilia caruifolia is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names carawayleaf gilia and caraway-leaved woodland-gilia. It is native to the Peninsular Ranges of southern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in local habitat types such as chaparral. This herb produces a thin stem 12 centimeters to about a meter long. The leaves are up to 8 centimeters long at the base of the plant and divided into many finely subdivided lobes. The top of the stem branches into an inflorescence dotted with many glands. It produces flowers with lavender lobes dotted with darker purple near the bases.

Related Research Articles

<i>Eriastrum pluriflorum</i> species of plant

Eriastrum pluriflorum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names Tehachapi woollystar and many-flowered eriastrum.

<i>Gilia capitata</i> species of plant

Gilia capitata is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names blue-thimble-flower, bluehead gilia, blue field gilia, and globe gilia. It is native to much of western North America from Alaska to northern Mexico, and it can be found on the eastern side of the continent as an introduced species. It grows in many habitats, especially in sandy or rocky soils.

Gilia ophthalmoides is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name eyed gilia. It is native to the southwestern United States where it can be found in woodlands and high desert plateau.

<i>Saltugilia splendens</i> species of plant

Saltugilia splendens is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names splendid woodland-gilia, Grinnell's gilia and splendid gilia.

<i>Chaenactis glabriuscula</i> species of plant

Chaenactis glabriuscula, with the common name Yellow pincushion, is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family. It is native to California and Baja California.

Collinsia concolor is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name Chinese houses.

Gilia diegensis is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name coastal gilia.

<i>Linanthus maculatus</i> species of plant

Linanthus maculatus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names San Bernardino Mountain gilia and Little San Bernardino Mountains gilia. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from a few locales in the Little San Bernardino Mountains and the adjacent Palm Springs area in the northern end of the Coachella Valley. The largest populations, which may contain thousands of individuals, are located within the bounds of Joshua Tree National Park. This is a very small annual herb no more than three centimeters high. It has a taproot which may exceed 6 centimeters in length to collect moisture from the dry desert sand in its native habitat. The tiny, hairy stem branches to form small matted clusters on the sand surface. The hairy leaves are just a few millimeters long and unlobed. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of flowers each only 2 to 5 millimeters wide. The flower corolla has curled-back lobes which are white, sometimes with a spot of purple or pink. The protruding stamens are yellow. The main threat to this species is development in its range, and it is also vulnerable to off-road vehicle damage in the wide open sandy flats where it grows.

<i>Leptosiphon aureus</i> species of plant

Leptosiphon aureus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name golden linanthus.

Leptosiphon nudatus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Tehachapi linanthus.

Linanthus orcuttii is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Orcutt's linanthus. It is known only from southern California and Baja California, where it grows in chaparral and pine forests in the Peninsular Ranges and occasionally the San Bernardino Mountains.

<i>Leptosiphon parviflorus</i> species of plant

Leptosiphon parviflorus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name variable linanthus.

Monardella linoides is a species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name flaxleaf monardella.

<i>Microsteris</i> species of plant

Microsteris is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the phlox family containing the single species Microsteris gracilis, known by the common name slender phlox.

<i>Sidalcea malviflora</i> species of plant

Sidalcea malviflora is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, known by the common names dwarf checkerbloom, Greek mallow, prairie mallow and dwarf checkermallow.

Gilia yorkii is a rare species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names Boyden Cave gilia and monarch gilia. It is endemic to Fresno County, California, where it is known from only one location in the southern Sierra Nevada. This plant grows in rock cracks in the limestone cliffs and outcrops in the chaparral and woodlands of the canyon.

Navarretia ojaiensis is a rare species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Ojai navarretia.

Saltugilia latimeri is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Latimer's woodland gilia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from several scattered occurrences in the western Mojave Desert and outlying areas to the north. It occurs in dry rocky and sandy desert canyons. It was first described as a species in 2001.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Porter, J. M. and L. A. Johnson. (2000). A phylogenetic classification of Polemoniaceae. Archived 2015-10-01 at the Wayback Machine .Aliso 19(1) 55-91.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Weese, T. L. and L. A. Johnson. (2011). Saltugilia latimeri: A new species of Polemoniaceae. Madroño 48(3) 198-204.
  3. ↑ S. australis. The Jepson Herbarium.
  4. ↑ S. caruifolia. The Jepson Herbarium.
  5. ↑ S. latimeri. The Jepson Herbarium.
  6. ↑ S. splendens. The Jepson Herbarium.
  7. ↑ S. splendens ssp. grantii. The Jepson Herbarium.
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