How do you know a Linanthus?

Polemoniaceae is an adorable family of annual and perennial plants with almost all of its diversity found in North America. This family is known by its diversity in flower morphology and plant-pollinator relationships. Are you in to first person narratives of science theory, like Darwin? Then you will love Flower Pollination in the Phlox Family, by Grant and Grant (1). Verne and Karen were a husband-wife duo that studied and published together on all things pollination. This book is a culmination of observations, both personal and scientific, that discuss the diversity of plant pollinator systems in Polemoniaceae. While this book is somewhat outdated in its taxonomy (genomics have completely revolutionized plant taxonomy), it is beautifully written with excellent observations and personal touches, and does in fact write about Linanthus dichotomus. Great read if you like non fiction natural history books with a personal twist.

Back to the identification of Eveningsnow: Polemoniaceae is known by its 5-5-5-3 combo of flower anatomy parts: 5 sepals, 5 petals, 5 stamens (pollen producing parts), 3 carpels (chambers of ovules at the base of the flower; Can usually be counted by the lobes at the tip of the female anatomy, or where the pollen begins its journey).

See the following link for an excellent introduction to flower anatomy, brought to you by the University of British Colombia (famous for their plant research department):

http://blogs.ubc.ca/biol343/flower-structure-and-morphology/

In Linanthus, the sepals are not showy like the petals, but are instead more vegetative like in its looks with thin membranes that sometimes connect each lobe together. The leaves in this genus are needle like (not hard like a pine, but almost like mini-skinny succulents, sometimes with hairs). Flowers are all perfect (bisexual, aka both sexes present in one flower), and radial (you can draw a line almost anywhere through the middle and both sides will match). Corolla tubes are present, aka the petals are fused at the base before fanning out for show. The genus is almost entirely restricted to southern California deserts, Transverse/Peninsular ranges, and Baja, except for one species: Eveningsnow.

A great resource for aspiring botanists is the online Jepson Manual for the California Floristic Province. While it is not completely up to date it has great resources for botanical vocabulary, dichotomous keys, maps of known localities, photos and more. See the following link for the Linanthus section and don’t forget to check out the other beauties in this group!

http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=8871

(1) Grant, V., & Grant, K. A. (1965). Flower pollination in the Phlox family. New York: Columbia University Press.

Posted on March 19, 2019 05:21 PM by enemjee