Herbs or vines (elsewhere also shrubs and trees). Leaves opposite, simple, in ours unlobed; stipules present between the leaves or represented by a line or membrane between the leaf bases. Flowers in ours perfect, regular, ours 5-merous. Sepals free or basally united, valvate or imbricate in bud. Corolla fused, salverform to tubular or campanulate. Stamens epipetalous, usually alternate with the corolla lobes. Ovary superior to partially inferior, in ours free of the calyx, composed of 2 carpels and bilocular. Fruit of our material capsular.

20+ genera and about 600 species from the tropics to the temperate regions; 3 genera and 6 species in TX; 3 genera and 4 species here. This treatment reflects the removal of some genera, including our Polypremum, to the Buddlejaceae

Some, including Gelsemium are ornamental; others are poisonous (Mabberley 1987).

3 species, 2 of the SE. U.S. and 1 of SE. Asia to Malaysia; we may have the 1 species found in TX.

1. G. sempervirens (L.) Jaume St.-Hil. Carolina Jessamine, Yellow Jessamine, Poor Man's Rope, Evening Trumpetflower. Trailing or high-climbing viney shrub, twining left to right; stems slender, wiry, red-brown, smooth. Leaves semievergreen in our area, ovate to lanceolate or elliptic, to 7.5 cm long and 3 cm broad, acute to acuminate, basally rounded to cuneate, glabrous; petioles 2 to 7 mm long; stipules small and deciduous. Flowers fragrant, 5-merous, solitary or in cymose clusters of up to 6 in the axils; pedicels short and with scaly bracts. Sepals free, lanceolate, 3 to 5 mm long, obtuse to subacute; corolla yellow, funnelform, 2.5 to 3.5 cm long, the lobes ca. 7 to 10 mm long, spreading; stamens attached to the lower portion of the flaring tube, anthers oblong, sagittate; style slender, 2-cleft, each arm divided and thus appearing 4-cleft, flowers heterostylic. Capsule elliptic-oblong, with 2 valves and 2 locules, 1.4 to 2 cm long, 0.8 to 1.2 cm broad, flattened perpendicular to the partition, apically rounded and abruptly beaked; seeds many, brown, apically winged, body papillose. Open sandy woods or wood edges in E. TX; reported from Brazos Co. (TAES 48551; H. B. Parks, s.n., Mar. 9, 1946), but this specimen likely from cultivation as Parks frequently omitted mention of cultivation. Possibly present in the wild in E. portions of Grimes, Leon, and Madison Cos. in pine-sweetgum communities. FL to TX, N. to SE. VA, TN, and AR. Feb.-Apr. [Authority frequently given as (L.) Ait. f.].

Cultivated for its deliciously fragrant flowers, this plant has also been used medicinally to treat migraines and neuralgia (Mabberley 1987), but it is toxic. Most poisonings result from its medicinal use, with severe intoxications involving muscular weakness, spasms, or convulsions, but there are cases of children having been poisoned by sucking the nectar from the blossoms (Lampe 1985). Honey made from the blossoms is reported to be toxic (Tull 1987).

Herbaceous perennials. Leaves simple, opposite, united at the base by stipules or a stipular line. Flowers solitary or in 1-sided cymes (sometimes spike-like), 5-merous. Sepals united at the base, calyx lobes slender. Corolla funnelform or salverform, the lobes relatively short. Anthers linear. Style 1, pubescent on the upper portion, jointed near the middle. Capsule bi-lobed and bilocular, splitting into the 2 component carpels at maturity.

About 50 species of tropical and subtropical Amer., with 1 naturalized in the Old World; 3 species in TX; 1 here.

Several species (e.g. S. anthelmia and S. marilandica) are medicinal, having uses as vermifuges. Some (including the medicinal ones) are poisonous (Lampe 1985; Mabberley 1987).

1. S. loganioides (T. & G. ex Endl. & Fenzl) A. DC. Texas Pink-root. Perennial from a group of slender fibrous roots; stems 1 to several from the base, slender, spreading, to ca. 3 dm tall; herbage more or less glabrous. Leaves ovate to elliptic-lanceolate or sometimes obovate or oblanceolate (especially on the lower portion of the stem), thin-textured, (1.5)2.5 to 5 cm long, to 2 cm broad, apically obtuse to acute, basally cuneate, glabrous or the margins and sometimes the nerves slightly scabrous, short-petiolate, well-spaced; stipules very small. Flowers terminal and in the axils of the upper leaves. Sepals linear-subulate, ca. 5 mm long, 1-nerved, margins scabrous-serrulate, apically acute to obtuse; corolla funnelform to salverform, ca. 12 mm long, white, lobes ca. 3 mm long; anthers and style included; stigma capitate. Pedicels elongating in fruit; capsule bi-globose, slightly compressed perpendicular to the septum, 3 to 4 mm long. Wooded slopes and floodplain woods along river courses in S. TX; endemic; in our area known from along the Old River in Burleson Co. May-Aug, ours primarily May. [S. texana (T. & G.) A. DC.; Coelostylis loganioides T. & G. ex Endl. & Fenzl.; C. texana T. & G.].

Annual or perennial herbs. Stems often slightly quadrangular. Herbage glabrous or essentially so. Leaves opposite, entire; stipules between the leaves, small. Inflorescences pedunculate terminal cymes, branched, the branches helicoid (1-sided) cymes. Flowers small, regular, 5-merous. Sepals united only at the base, ovate to elliptic, several-veined. Corolla longer than the calyx, globose-funnelform or urceolate, white or tinged with pink or blue, in ours 1 to 2 mm long. Stamens included. Gynoecium briefly united to the calyx at the base, the 2 carpels united for 1/2 or more their lengths, divergent to ascending; styles 2. Capsule exserted, strongly 2-horned or miter-shaped, dehiscent along the inner side of each carpel. Seeds many, widely ellipsoid, grooved on one side.

About 6 species of tropical to warm-temperate regions; 2 species in TX, both present here. Texas material was formerly in Cynoctonum; Mitreola is apparently the earliest valid name. This treatment is based, in part, on the work of Nelson (1980).

Ours herbs, elsewhwere mostly trees and shrubs. Leaves usually opposite, entire as in ours or toothed or lobed, stipules usually represented by a line between petiole bases. Flowers variously arranged, perfect or functionally unisexual, usually 4-merous. Sepals united, calyx sometimes parted very deeply. Petals united, corolla usually regular, lobes mostly imbricate. Stamens epipetalous, alternate with the corolla lobes. Gynoecium bilocular, superior to half-inferior, style solitary, terminal, stigma capitate or 2-lobed, ovules many, placentation axile. Fruit usually a septicidal capsule. Seeds sometimes winged.

About 10 genera and 150 species; 3 genera and 7 species in TX; 1 species here.

These plants have often been treated as part of the Loganiaceae.

A monotypic genus.

1. P. procumbens L. Polyprim, Polly-prim, Juniperleaf. Taprooted perennial herb to ca. 3 dm tall; stems several to many from the base, well-branched, radially ascending or repent, ribbed; herbage more or less scabrous. Leaves linear-subulate, 1 to 2.5(3) cm long, 0.5 to 2(2.5) mm broad, acute, ascending to widely spreading, each pair connected at the base by an inconspicuous stipular line. Flowers solitary, terminal and in the axils of the leaves, 4-merous, sessile, or with pedicels less than 0.5 mm long. Calyx with a broad, scarious-margined base, lobes lance-subulate, ca. 2 to 3 mm long, dorsally keeled; corolla white, essentially rotate, about as long as the sepals, bearded in the throat, lobed ca. 1/3 its length, lobes suborbicular, ca. 1 mm long; stamens short, included, anthers globose; style 1, short, stigma entire, ovoid. Capsule ovoid, 1.5 to 2.5 mm long, slightly flattened and notched apically, 2-celled and 2-valvedl; seeds many, yellow, more or less square in outline, with microscopic pits. Usually in sandy soil of fields, roadsides, dunes, pastures, openings in woods, etc. E. 2/3 TX; FL to TX, N. to NY, NJ, E. PA, and SE. MO; S. to Colombia and the W. Indies. Apr.-Nov.

Some studies place Polypremum in or near the Scrophulariaceae (see Zomlefer 1994).

Ours annual or perennial herbs (elsewhere also sometimes woody). Leaves opposite, whorled, or rarely alternate, simple, sessile to petiolate, estipulate, ours commonly glabrous or nearly so. Flowers solitary or in cymose or corymbose inflorescences, terminal and/or axillary, perfect, regular, 4- to 12-merous. Sepals usually united at least briefly, in ours persistent. Petals more or less united, corolla tubular or salverform to campanulate or rotate, often with nectary scales or pits within. Stamens epipetalous, as many as the corolla lobes and alternate with them. Ovary superior, bicarpellate, unilocular (or bilocular through intrusion of the parietal placentae toward the middle), style 1, elongate to obsolete, stigma usually relatively large, entire to bifid. Fruit in ours a 2-valved, septicidal, usually unilocular capsule with many seeds.

74 genera and about 1,200 species worldwide, especially common in temperate and subtropical regions and the montane tropics; 8 genera and 22 species in TX; 3 genera and 3 species here, with 1 more perhaps to be looked for.

The family includes many ornamentals, especially in Gentiana, Exacum, and Sabatia. Some taxa have medicinal uses (Mabberley 1987).

Annual or short-lived perennial from a taproot, usually with a basal rosette. Stems erect or ascending, leafy, herbage more or less glaucous. Leaves sessile, clasping, entire. Flowers usually 5-merous (occasionally 4-merous), showy, long-pedicelled, solitary or in cymose panicles. Calyx lobes elongate, keeled. Corolla campanulate, the lobes convolute in bud and erect in flower, apically entire to erose or apiculate, nectary glands or appendages none. Stamens inserted on the corolla throat, anthers oblong, versatile, strongly or slightly recurved in age. Style slender, semi-persistent, stigma conspicuously 2-lobed. Capsule ellipsoid, 2-valved and many-seeded.

A genus of 3 species of the S. U.S. to N. S. Amer.; 2 in TX; 1 here. Kartesz (1998) combines the two N. American species.

1. E. grandiflorum (Raf.) Shinners(=Eustoma exaltatum (L.) Salisb. ex G. Don subsp. russellianum (Hook.) Kartesz, comb. nov. ined.) Showy Prairie-gentian, Bluebells, Lira de San Pedro. Annual or short-lived perennial; stems 1 to several from the base, erect, 25 to 70 cm tall; internodes 1.4 to 6 cm long. Leaves elliptic-oblong to elliptic-lanceolate, lanceolate, lance-ovate or sometimes ovate, 3-veined, 1.5 to 8 cm long, 0.3 to 5 cm broad, glaucous. Inflorescence cymose-paniculate, flowers 2 to 6 per cluster; pedicels to 6 cm long. Calyx lobes linear-lanceolate or subulate, 1.2 to 2.3 cm long, 2 to 3 mm broad; corolla very showy, generally blue-purple, occasionally pink or whitish, often with a darker eye, deeply lobed, lobes elliptic-obovate, 3 to 5 cm long, 1.5 to 2.4 cm broad (3 or more times as long as the calyx), apically rounded to truncate, commonly apiculate and very slightly erose; anthers 4 to 5.5 mm long, recurved in age, filaments 10 to 15 mm long; style about as long as the ovary, stigma massive, 2-lobed, the lobes ca. 5 mm long. Capsule to 2 cm long. Moist areas of prairies and fields and around stock tanks and ponds. Throughout much of TX but sadly much less common in our area now than formerly; SW. SD, NE, and E. CO, S. to TX and Mex. June-Sept. [E. russellianum with the authority given variously as (Hook.) Sweet, (L.) Griseb., or (Hook.) G. Don--the latter is used by Kartesz (1998)].

Names have been given to the various color forms: f. grandiflorum (typical blue-purple), f. fisheri (Standl.) Shinners (white), f. bicolor (Standl.) Shinners (white with a purple tinge on the lobes, f. roseum (Standl.) Shinners (pink), and f. flaviflorum (Cockll.) Shinners (yellow).

Often cultivated for the very showy blossoms which last several days as a cut flower. Often sold under the name Lisianthus and offered in various colors. This plant was popularized about the time it became scarce in parts of its range; it is possible that plants and seeds were over-collected from the wild rather than purchased.

Annual herbs, generally low and well-branched but sometimes tall and showy (not ours). Herbage in TX material glabrous. Flowers 4- or 5-merous. Calyx deeply lobed, the lobes narrow and appressed to the corolla tube; corolla salverform or funnelform the tube slender and the limb 4- or 5-lobed, pink (as ours) or white. Stamens inserted on the corolla throat, anthers exserted, spirally twisting after dehiscence. Style 1, slender, stigma capitate or lobed. Capsule fusiform to oblong-ovoid. Seeds small.

30 species of the N. hemisphere; 4 in TX; 1 here.

Some are cultivated for ornament (Mabberley 1987).

1. C. texense (Griseb.) Fern. Lady Bird's Centaury. Stem erect, simple below and often corymbosely branched above, 1 to 3 dm tall. Cauline leaves linear to linear-lanceolate or linear-oblanceolate, 5 to 30 mm long, to 4 mm broad, reduced upwards and the uppermost only subulate bracts. Pedicels 5 to 12 mm long, about as long as the calyx; flowers pink. Calyx 8 to 10 mm long, the lobes 7 to 9 mm long; corolla tube 9 to 11 mm long, about twice as long as the lobes, lobes linear-oblong to oblong-elliptic, 3 to 7 mm long, to 1.5 mm broad. Seeds light brown. Usually in dry calcareous soils of hillsides and barrens, also sometimes in depressions on granite; Ed. Plat. and Blackland Prairies; in our area known from calcareous sandstone in Grimes Co. and (oddly) collected once along the Highway 6 bypass E. of Bryan; MO and TX. Jun.-Aug. [Erythraea texensis Griseb.].

The common name honors former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, founder of the National Wildflower Research Center and long-time lover of Texas wildflowers.

Annual or perennial herbs. Stems erect. Herbage glabrous. Leaves opposite and in some species also basal. Inflorescence terminal, cymose. Flowers 4- to 12-merous, ours usually 5-merous, usually pink (rarely white), often with a paler eye and/or star in the center. Sepals basally united, calyx lobes slender, longer than the tube. Corolla rotate. Stamens epipetalous, inserted on the upper rim of the corolla tube, alternate with the lobes, filaments slender, anthers bright yellow, coiled after dehiscence. Style 1, slender, stigma bifid. Capsule ovoid to cylindric. Seeds many.

17 species of N. Amer. and the W. Indies; 7 in TX; 1 here with one more to be looked for.

The flowers are generally showy and some species are cultivated for ornament (Mabberley 1987).

1. S. campestris Nutt. Prairie Rose-gentian. Annual; stems slender, unwinged but somewhat 4-angled, erect, 1 to 3.5(5) dm tall, usually simple in the lower half and if branched above, the branches 1 per node and simple, internodes 1 to 4.4 cm long. Leaves ovate to lance-ovate, ovate-elliptic, or oblong-elliptic, 0.8 to 2.5(4.5) cm long, 0.5 to 1.2(2) cm broad, with 1 or 3 strong nerves rom the base, apically generally acute, base rounded, clasping, and sessile. Inflorescences loose cymose clusters forming a somewhat corymbose arrangement; flowers generally 5-merous (occasional aberrant individuals 4- or 6-merous), subtly fragrant. Calyx tube to 8 mm long, pentagonal, the lateral nerves well-developed and usually with thin, narrow wings that extend to the sinuses between the lobes, lobes linear to lanceolate, 1 to 2.8 cm long, longer than the tube, longer or shorter than the corolla lobes; corolla tube 2/3 or more enclosed by the calyx, lobes broadly ovate to elliptic or spatulate, 1.2 to 2.3 cm long, 7 to 15 mm broad, obtuse to acute, bright rose-pink with a paler spot basally, flowers often with a white eye and yellow star; stigma lobes greenish, turning yellow with age, 5 to 8 mm long. Capsule to 9 mm long. Common in prairies, fields, roadsides, waste places, etc. in both dry and moist soils. E. 1/2 TX and SW. following the coast; IL S. to MS, W. to IA, KS, OK, and TX. Apr.-July. [S. formosa Buckl.].

NOTE: S. angularis (L.) Pursh occurs in E. TX., including on the Blackland Prairies and Post Oak Savannah. It has not been seen by the author from this area, but ought to be looked for. It can be distinguished by its winged stems and unwinged calyx tube which covers 1/3 or less of the corolla tube; branches are usually 2 per node.

Ours annual or perennial herbs, vines, or shrubs (elsewhere also trees), commonly with milky sap. Leaves evergreen or deciduous, opposite, alternate, or sometimes whorled, simple, entire, often revolute; stipules inconspicuous or lacking. Flowers solitary and axillary or in racemes or corymbose or thyrse-like cymes, perfect, regular, ours 5-merous except for the gynoecium. Sepals united, if only briefly, calyx lobes usually imbricate, sometimes with glands or appendages within. Corolla fused, varying in shape from salverform or tubular to urceolate or campanulate, sometimes with appendages in the throat, lobes imbricate or convolute in bud. Stamens epipetalous, alternate with the corolla lobes, anthers introrse, sagittate, sometimes sticky and lightly adhering to the stigma. Nectary glands sometimes present subtending the gynoecium. Gynoecium superior, in ours of 2 unilocular carpels with axile placentation, free below and united only above by the style; stigma usually relatively large, variously shaped. Fruit 2 (or 1 by abortion) cylindrical to fusiform follicles, each few- to many-seeded. Seeds glabrous or with a coma.

A large, diverse family of 215 genera and 2,100 species, primarily tropical but a few temperate; 8 genera and 21 species in TX; 6 genera and 9 species here. Though old, the treatment of Woodson (1938) is useful for descriptions and distribution information.

Sometimes treated to include the Asclepiadaceae, with which it shares many features. Thorne takes this view of the two families--(for a presentation, see Zomlefer (1994).

Many species are poisonous and/or have medicinal properties, e.g. species of Ravolfia (source of reserpine) and Catharanthus (source of several promising anti-leukemia drugs). Many genera include ornamentals, notably Allamanda, Nerium, Plumeria, and Vinca (Mabberley, 1987).

Perennial herb from a woody, erect or creeping rootstock. Leaves alternate or crowded enough to appear verticillate, linear to lanceolate or broadly elliptic, petiolate to sessile, margin often revolute. Inflorescences terminal or occasionally lateral thyrsiform cymes with several to many flowers, dense to pen, often not much surpassed by the leaves, flowers held erect to drooping; bracts inconspicuous. Sepals united in the basal 1/5 to 1/3, calyx lobes more or less equal, without appendages. Corolla salverform, blue, orifice of tube constricted in some species but open in ours and the tube enlarged at the point of stamen attachment, orifice densely pilose and the corolla retrorsely pubescent within, glabrous to pubescent externally, lobes spreading to erect, linear to ovate, appendages none. Anthers ovate to triangular, the connective not enlarged, connivent over the stigma, included. Style filiform, stigma depressed-capitate, with a cup-like wing just below the summit; nectary none. Follicles straight to curved, continuous or constricted between the seeds, erect to pendulous. Seeds in 1 row per follicle, ends truncate, coma none.

About 20 species of N. Amer. and Japan; Hatch, et al. (1990) listed 9 species for TX, but Kartesz (1998) merges two of these; 3 species are to be expected in our area. Despite its age, the works of Woodson (1928, 1938) are very useful for characters and species distributions.

Some species have ornamental value (Mabberley 1987). According to Tull (1987), TX plants are poisonous, though they are not listed by the AMA (Lampe 1985).

A quite variable species. According to Woodson (1928), present in our area, but no collections seen from our counties by the author. Two varieties are present in TX.:

var. texana (A. Gray) Coult. Texas Slimpod. Leaves well-spaced, commonly strongly dimorphic, the upper oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, much narrower than the lower, which are elliptic-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 2 to 6 cm long, 0.3 to 1.7 cm broad, shiny above, dull below. [A. texana (Gray) Heller].

var. filifolia Woods. Leaves crowded, subverticillate, linear-lanceolate to filiform, 2 to 5 cm long, 0.5 to 4 mm broad. [A. ciliata Walt. var. tenuifolia (Raf.) Woods., and listed as such by Kartesz (1998)].

Kartesz (1998) lists also for TX a var. tabernaemontana (A. glaberrima Woods. of Hatch, et al [1990]). This variety (or species) has an entirely glabrous corolla. It is found in extreme SE. TX and is not expected in our area.

NOTE: A. tabernaemontana, A. illustris, and A. repens (the latter apparently not present in our area) are very closely allied. Some TX. material is not readily referable to a particular species. Characters of pubescence, traditionally used to separate the species, are not always definitive and the complex could benefit from intensive study.

See NOTE at A. tabernaemontana, above.

20 species, most in the E. hemis. from India to Japan; 1 in the SE. U.S. and present here.

Some are cultivated for ornament. In TX, T. asiaticum and T. jasminoides are especially common, both used as ground covers. These two have shiny ovate leaves and white flowers. Neither is known to escape in our area.

1. T. difforme (Walt.) Gray American Star Jasmine, Climbing Dogbane, Climbing Star Jasmine. Deciduous woody twining vine or herbaceous perennial; stems reddish; herbage glabrous to puberulent. Leaves opposite, petiolate or nearly sessile, blades quite variable in shape, elliptic to obovate-elliptic, lanceolate, ovate, or occasionally even suborbicular, sometimes heterophyllous and variable on any one plant, ca. 4 to 12 cm long, 1 to 7.5 cm broad, acuminate (sometimes abruptly so) to apiculate, basally cuneate to rounded; stipules tiny. Inflorescences in alternate axils or sometimes appearing terminal, thyrsiform or corymbose, flowers usually many, relatively small; pedicels 4 to 7 mm long. Calyx lobed nearly to the base, lobes ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 3 to 4 mm long, more than twice as long as the tube, the tips sparsely barbellate; corolla salverform or slightly funnelform, pale yellow (or greenish), the tube 5.5 to 6.5 mm long, ca. 1 mm broad at the base and slightly expanded above, the 5 lobes oblong-obovate, 3 to 4 mm long, spreading, convolute in bud; stamens and stigma included, stamens inserted halfway down the corolla tube, filaments short, anthers connivent and more or less stuck together around the stigma, connectives enlarged, narrowly 2-lobed; style elongate, stigma fusiform; gynoecium subtended by 5 free or more or less coalescent nectary glands. Follicles paired, slender, terete, sometimes slightly constricted between the many seeds, 10 to 23 cm long, glabrous; seeds truncate, comose. On shrubs and trees along streams and wood edges and in weedy areas. E. TX; in our area usually in dense bottomlands and not often collected; DE to FL and TX, W. to IL, IN, MO, and OK. Apr.-June.

2 species from the Mediterranean to Japan; 1 cultivated and sometimes persisting in parts of TX.

Members of this genus are deadly poisonous--see notes following our species.

1. N. oleander L. Common Oleander, Laurel Rosa, Rose Bay. In our area a shrub to ca. 6 m, commonly dying to the ground in severe freezes; stems usually several to many from the base and the form more or less globose; herbage essentially glabrous; sap not usually milky. Leaves opposite or many of them in whorls of 3 or 4, short-petiolate, coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate, to 30 cm long and 3.5 cm wide, the pinnate venation very strong and even, upper surface very shiny. Inflorescence more or less corymbose, the flowers white rose, red, or yellow, in some cultivars "double" (with 10 petals). Calyx lobes lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4 to 6 mm long, acuminate, somewhat leaf-like; corolla funnelform, glabrous externally, the tube 8 to 12 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm broad at the base, expanded above into a conic-campanulate throat 9 to 10 mm long and ca. 7 mm broad at the orifice, commonly with 5 laciniate-dentate scales; lobes more or less obovate to obovate-oblong, 2 to 3.5 cm long, spreading; stamens borne about the middle of the tube, anthers lobed basally and awned apically, connivent above and loosely cohering to the stigma. Follicles 2 (or 1 by abortion), brown, rather sturdy, 8 to 15 cm long; seeds many, flattened, puberulent, apically comose. Native to the Medit. and E. Asia; cultivated for ornament; sometimes shortly persisting in old landscapes but not (as far as is known) naturalizing in our area.

All parts of this plant are extremely toxic--one leaf can be enough to kill an adult, and even water in which the flowers have been placed is toxic. The toxic principles are cardioactive glycosides similar to digitalis (Lampe 1985). The smoke from burning wood is also potentially toxic, and there are reports (possibly anecdotal) of children being poisoned from using the branches as hotdog roasting sticks.

Perennial herbs or subshrubs. Stems erect to trailing. Leaves opposite. Flowers solitary in the axils of alternate leaves, 5-merous except for the gynoecium. Calyx lobes narrow, without appendages. Corolla funnelform or salverform, the tube cylindrical, throat hairy or thickened, appendages none, lobes twisted to the left, in ours blue-purple or white. Stamens inserted on the corolla, not connivent, anthers with the connective prolonged into an apical appendage. Gynoecium subtended by 2 nectaries nearly equal in size to the carpels at anthesis. Follicles terete, slender, many-seeded. Seeds slightly flattened, without a coma.

7 species of Eur. to N. Afr. and Cen. Asia; 2 species cultivated for ornament and sometimes persistent.

Some are used medicinally in their native regions (Mabberley 1987).

Herbaceous perennials from rhizomes. Stems erect to ascending, commonly dichotomously branched. Leaves opposite or occasionally whorled, sessile to petiolate, variously shaped, sometimes mucronate, margin often revolute; stipules small, inconspicuous. Inflorescences terminal and axillary corymbose cymes, the floral bracts small to rather leafy; flowers (in ours) small and pale. Sepals united in the basal 1/3 to 2/3, without appendages. Corolla cylindrical to campanulate or urceolate, the tube relatively short, limb with 5 equal, spreading to reflexed lobes that are twisted to the right, each lobe with a triangular appendage at the base. Anthers narrowly triangular, fertile only in the upper 2/3, connivent above the stigma and lightly adhering to it; connective enlarged, 2-lobed, filaments flattened, apically enlarged, villous. Style short, clavate, stigma conical or ovoid-fusiform; gynoecium subtended by 5 free, ovoid nectaries alternate with the stamens. Follicles separate or stuck together at the tips, spreading to pendulous, terete. Seeds many, truncate, slender-fusiform, overlapping, with a coma.

7 species of the temperate Americas; 4 listed for TX by Hatch, et al. (1990); 3 listed by Kartesz (1998); 1 here.

1. A. cannabinum L. Indian Hemp Dogbane, Prairie Dogbane. Stems from a stout rhizome or rootstock, 2 to 10 dm tall; herbage variously glabrous to pubescent or villous, often glaucous; branches ascending to spreading, mainly in the upper 1/2 of the plant, alternate or opposite. Leaves mostly opposite, short-petiolate to sessile, ascending or slightly spreading, blades ovate to oblong-elliptic or lanceolate, 1.5 to 14 cm long, 0.3 to 4.5(7) cm broad, rounded to acute and usually apiculate apically, acute to cordate basally, generally glabrous above, glabrous to pilosulous or villous below and sometimes glaucous. Cymes usually dense, terminal; floral bracts linear to lanceolate, scarious, from inconspicuous to rather leafy and obvious, often early deciduous; flowers erect to drooping, white to greenish. Calyx lobes lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate or linear, 1.2 to 3(3.5) mm long, about as long as the corolla tube, glabrous; corolla urceolate to narrowly campanulate or short-cylindrical, 2.6 to 4.7 mm long, 1.5 to 3 mm broad at the apex, lobes ca. 1/3 to 1/2 as long as the tube, erect or slightly spreading. Follicles widely spreading to pendulous at maturity, sometimes coherent at the tips, straight to curved, 7 to 19(22) cm long, glabrous; seeds 3 to 6 mm long, coma (1.3)1.6 to 3.7 cm long, white to tawny. Moist or wet sandy or clay soils of bogs, ditches, stream courses, and along rivers, or sometimes open woods or fields. E., Cen., and N. Cen. TX; Can. and ME to WA, S. to FL, TX, and AZ; also N. Mex. Apr.-Aug. [Includes var. glaberrimum A. DC., var. cannabinum, and var. pubescens (R. Br.) A. DC.; A. pubescens R. Br. var. hypericifolium (Ait.) A. Gray; A. sibiricum Jacq. and its var. cordigerum (Greene) Fern. and var. salignum (Greene) Fern.; A. cordigerum Greene; A. suksdorfii Greene var. angustifolium (Woot.) Woods. Sometimes separated from A. sibiricum, but in large parts of its range (e.g. the Great Plains), there is complete overlap in "distinguishing" characters (GPFA 1986).

The root of this plant was used medicinally by plains tribes to treat constipation, dropsy, and ague and as en emetic, antisyphilitic, and general tonic. White settlers in the NW. U.S. learned of it from Native Americans and used it as a diuretic, cathartic, febrifuge, and purgative. It is still used in Appalachia in various remedies. The main chemical constituents are cardiac glycosides which may have anti-tumor properties (Tull 1987; Kindscher 1992). The plant is actually toxic to humans and animals, but because it is unpalatable, cases of severe poisoning are rare (Kindscher 1992). It is not listed by the A.M.A. as a poisonous plant (Lampe 1985). Woody fibers in the outer stem can be used like hemp for cordage. Mesquakie tribes used them for sewing (Kindscher 1992). The sap has a significant hydrocarbon content and might prove useful in fabricating synthetic rubber or for some other use (Tull 1987).

8 species of the tropics, 7 found only in Madagascar; 1 occasionally self-seeding/escaping from cultivation in Texas.

1. C. roseus (L.) G. Don f. Madagascar Periwinkle, Vinca. Perennial, but cultivated in our area as an annual; stems erect, to 7.5 dm, usually shorter. Leaves opposite, oblong-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 to 5 cm long, shiny. Flowers solitary or 2 to 3 in axillary cymes, 5-merous except for the gynoecium, perfect. Corolla salverform, in shades of pink, rose, red, fuchsia, or white, sometimes with a darker or lighter eye or star in the center, to ca. 4 cm broad, tube ca. 2.5 cm long, throat filled with bristly hairs; anthers sessile in the throat, without terminal appendages; style slender. Follicles to ca. 4 cm long; seeds 15 to 30 or more. Native from Madagascar to India; cultivated as a summer annual (plants are quite heat-tolerant); very occasionally self-sowing outside plantings; not long persisting and usually immediately traceable to cultivation; naturalized elsewhere in the tropics nearly worldwide. Summer. [Vinca rosea L.].

Ours herbaceous perennials, subshrubs, or herbaceous vines; sap milky. Leaves usually opposite, sometimes whorled, occasionally alternate, usually entire, estipulate or the stipules minute and/or deciduous. Inflorescences usually axillary and/or terminal umbellate cymes or sometimes the flowers solitary or paired. Flowers perfect, regular. Sepals 5, usually imbricate, more or less connate at the base (often only briefly), often reflexed. Corolla sympetalous, 5-lobed or -cleft, the tube usually short. A 5-lobed corona or crown often present between the corolla and androecium and adnate to either or both, variously shaped and often nectariferous. Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube, usually near the base, in our material the filaments united into a tube around the style, anthers united around and coherent to the stigma, the stamens, style, and stigma together forming the gynostegium; each anther sometimes with a terminal scarious or petaloid membrane) which is an outgrowth of the connective) and/or two lateral, wing-like margins; in ours pollen produced in waxy masses called pollinia, the pollinia from adjacent half-anthers of separate stamens connected via translator arms joined to central gland or corpusculum. Gynoecium superior, of two carpels united only by the massive stigma in the gynostegium, stigmatic surface usually reached through the slit formed by the edges of the wing-margins of 2 adjacent anthers. Fruit a pair of follicles, commonly only 1 developing. Seeds many, flattened, usually comose.

347 genera and 2,850 species of the tropics and subtropics (a few are temperate); 5 genera and 59 species in TX; 3 genera and 14 species here.

This is a very large family, closely allied to the Apocynaceae and grouped with it by some taxonomists (e.g. Thorne; see Zomlefer 1994). Many taxa are cultivated for ornament, including species of Asclepias, Hoya, Ceropegia, Stapelia, etc. (Mabberley 1987), with forms ranging from bedding plant to hanging-basket vine to succulent. Most taxa have some sort of very elaborate or complex insect pollination (Mabberley 1987).

Ours perennial herbs, often from an enlarged and more or less woody rootstock, almost always with milky sap. Stems 1 to many, prostrate to erect. Leaves opposite, alternate, whorled, or approximate (nearly opposite), sessile to petiolate, blade variously shaped. Inflorescences in ours terminal or axillary umbellate cymes. Calyx divided almost to the base, of 5 equal lobes, usually reflexed, with few to many minute glandular scales within. Corolla rotate, the lobes reflexed or spreading, sometimes erect, valvate in bud. Corona of 5 fleshy spreading to erect hoods, U-shaped in cross section or tubular, attached to the sessile or stipitate staminal column and subtending the anthers; horns often present, protruding from the hoods, needle-like to falcate or tongue-like, erect or incurved. Anther head more or less pentamerous, short-cylindric to truncate-conic or depressed-spheric; anthers 2-celled, terminal appendage ovate to deltoid, petaloid, lateral margin-wings more or less prominent, corneous (with the texture of thin horn), enclosing the 5 stigmatic chambers; corpusculum narrowly ovate; pollinia pendulous from the translator arms, flattened, asymmetrically spatulate. Follicles 2 or only 1 by abortion, fusiform to ovoid, terete or slightly angled. Seeds many, usually comose, rarely naked.

About 120 species of the W. Hemisph.; a few naturalized in the E. Hemisph.; 36 in TX; 9 in our immediate area. Though rather old, the work of Woodson (1954) is useful for descriptions, diagrams, and distribution information.

The flowers of some are quite showy and several species are commonly grown as ornamentals, e.g. A. curassavica with red and yellow flowers. Some species have medicinal value or produce a usable latex or fibers (Mabberley 1987). Others are the preferred food of butterfly larvae. Some are toxic to livestock, but severe intoxications are rare as they apparently are eaten only if other food is unavailable (GPFA 1986).

Sometimes mistaken for A. asperula (Dcne.) Woods., which is superficially similar but which has narrower, long-acuminate leaves. It is found to the west of our area and apparently does not occur here.

The comas were formerly twisted and used as candle wicks (Ajilvsgi 1984).

The Lakota Sioux made medicines from the pulverized roots and gave it to children for diarrhea. It was also used in a tea believed to stimulate milk production in nursing women (Kindscher 1992).

One glycoside from this plant, amplexoside, has been shown to inhibit cell growth in human cancer (Kindscher 1992).

This species is poisonous to livestock (GPFA 1986; Tull 1987). It was used by the Lakota tribes to stimulate milk production in nursing women (Kindscher 1992).

Hatch, et al. (1990) and the GPFA (1986) recognized 2 subspecies: subsp. interior Woods., with leaf bases deeply cordate [A. tuberosa L. var. interior (Woods.) Shinners and forma lutea (Clute) Steyerm.] and subsp. terminalis Woods. with leaf bases obtuse to truncate. Kartesz (1998) lists the two subspecies combined under subsp. interior. Our plants seem to have leaf bases mostly obtuse to truncate or only slightly cordate. I agree with the GPFA that these subspecific designations are of doubtful utility.

This plant is reportedly poisonous to livestock (GPFA 1986). Plains tribes used the raw root for lung disorders and also to treat wounds or sores. There a ritual associated with its gathering and preparation. Dakota tribespeople used the plant as an emetic (Kindscher 1992). It is also reported to have laxative properties and to be useful for heart trouble (Ajilvsgi 1984). The plant is a good addition to a butterfly garden as it is a favorite nectar source for a variety of species.

Perennial herbaceous twining vines from thick rootstocks; sap milky. Stems few to several. Leaves opposite, petiolate, blades triangular to ovate, entire, base rounded to cordate, usually with a few subulate glands on the midrib; stipules small, subulate, commonly deciduous. Inflorescences usually corymbose or umbellate axillary cymes, few- to many-flowered. Calyx lobes spreading, with linear to triangular glandular scales within, near or at the sinuses. Corolla rotate to short campanulate or funnelform, slightly to strongly spreading, white to dark purple, yellowish, or yellow-green. Corona a fleshy, shallowly lobed disk or cup or (as in ours) composed of 5 petaloid appendages which are apically bilobed. Gynostegium sessile to stipitate. Anther head depressed-spheric to conic; anther apical appendages ovate to suborbicular, petaloid; wings of anther margins strongly to shallowly angled at the base, conspicuous or inconspicuous, corneous (with the texture of thin horn); corpusculum elliptic to linear, red-brown; pollinia spatulate to oblong, nearly terete. Follicle fusiform, terete, smooth.

About 55 species of the tropics and temperate regions; 5 in TX; 1 here.

1. C. laeve (Michx.) Pers. Blue-vine, Sand-vine, Smooth Swallow-wort, Smooth Anglepod. Twining or trailing vine; stems simple or branched, to 3 m long or more, glabrescent or villous in lines. Petioles 1 to 9 cm long; blade triangular-lanceolate to deltoid or broadly ovate, (2)4 to 11 cm long, (1.5)2 to 10 cm broad, base cordate with a deep, wide sinus, the basal lobes rounded and commonly incurved, apex acuminate or acute, sometimes caudate or apiculate, margin minutely revolute, glabrous to sparsely villous or strigose, especially on the nerves; sometimes small, suborbicular leaves present in the axils. Inflorescences few to many, axillary, umbellate to corymbose (sometimes abbreviated racemes); peduncles 0.3 to 5 cm long, usually shorter than the petiole of the subtending leaf; pedicels slender, 3 to 12 mm long, villous; flowers 5 to 8 mm across. Calyx green or tinged with purple, lobes ovate-elliptic or lanceolate to ovate, 1.5 to 3 mm long, puberulent to sparsely villous, margins scarious; corolla rotate, whitish to cream-colored, the lobes narrowly oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 4 to 7 mm long, glabrous; corona petaloid, of 5 free, erect appendages 5 to 6 mm long, almost as long as the corolla lobes, each broadly ovate below and abruptly narrowed in the upper 1/2 into 2 free or somewhat fused linear lobes 1.5 to 2 times as long as the gynostegium; gynostegium stipitate (often only obscurely so); column ca. 0.5 mm tall, anther head conic; flowers dimorphic with regard to column and anther head, either column obconic and visibly distinct from the anther head which is 1.5 to 2 mm tall, 1.8 to 2 mm broad, with anther wings 0.5 to 0.6(0.7) mm long, or column cylindrical and smooth-fitting into the anther head which is 2.5 to 3 mm tall, 2 to 2.5 mm broad, with anther wings 1.5 to 2 mm long; anther apical appendages ca. 1 mm long; corpusculum 0.2 to 0.3 mm long; pollinia ca. 0.4 mm long. Follicles slender fusiform to lanceolate, slightly angled, 8 to 15 cm long, 1.5 to 2(3) cm thick, sparsely puberulent to glabrous; seeds 7 to 9 mm long, obovate, coma 3 to 4 cm long, white. Silty clay or sandy soils of moist low woods or fields, sometimes climbing on fences or shrubs. N. Cen. TX to S. Cen. coast; present in our area, but judging from collections, not as

common now as formerly; PA to NE, S. to GA and TX. June.-Sept. [Gonolobus laevis Michx.; Ampelamus albidus (Nutt.) Britt.; Enslenia albida Nutt.].

Herbaceous perennials or shrubs. Stems few to many from thick rootstocks, simple or branched, prostrate or twining to suberect. Leaves opposite, petiolate, blade cordate to ovate or suborbicular, basally cordate, entire, often with glands on the midrib; stipules none. Inflorescences axillary corymbose to umbellate cymes, or else flowers paired in the axils. Calyx lobes spreading, commonly with subulate to tubular glands on the inner surface, near the base or in the sinuses. Corolla rotate to campanulate, lobes convoluted in bud, slightly to strongly spreading, white to brown, purple, or greenish, often strongly reticulate-veined. Corona disk- or cup-shaped, thin or fleshy, variously lobed, with or without strap-shaped appendages within. Gynostegium sessile or with a short-stipe; anther head discoid, anthers partially hidden under the flattened stigma. Anther apical appendages suborbicular to ovate, petaloid; lateral wings inconspicuous, straight to curved; corpusculum narrowly elliptic to rhombic, red-brown; pollen in oblong to obovate pollinia. Follicles plump, fusiform, smooth or tuberculate, terete to angled. Seeds comose.

About 130 species, primarily in tropical S. Amer.; 13 TX; 4 here.

Ours annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, sometimes vine-like (elsewhere also trees). Leaves alternate or sometimes in fascicles, occasionally in approximate pairs, simple to odd-pinnately compound; stipules none. Inflorescences terminal, subterminal, axillary, opposite the leaves, or on the internodes, the arrangement cymose, paniculate, umbellate, racemose, or sometimes flowers solitary. Flowers perfect, regular or essentially so, 4- to 6-merous, ours usually 5-merous except for the gynoecium. Calyx synsepalous, usually with 5 teeth or lobes, rotate to campanulate or tubular, usually persistent in fruit, sometimes accrescent or inflated at maturity. Corolla sympetalous, rotate to campanulate, tubular, funnelform, or urceolate, the limb with 5 lobes or teeth or sometimes entire, the lobes valvate or imbricate, usually plicate (pleated) in bud. Stamens usually 5, free, inserted on the corolla and alternate with the lobes, sometimes connivent around the style, anthers opening by longitudinal slits or terminal pores. Gynoecium superior, of 2 united carpels; style 1, terminal, stigma entire or 2-lobed, locules 2 or sometimes 4 because of false septa, sometimes lobed; ovules several to many. Fruit with axile placentation, a berry or capsule. Seeds with the embryo lying near the periphery, often curved, endosperm well-developed.

This is a large family with about 90 genera and 12,600 species nearly worldwide; especially common in S. Amer. 18 genera and 78 species in TX; 8 genera and 24 species here.

The family is important for food crops, including potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), eggplant (S. melongena), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. = Lycopersicon esculentum), and peppers (Capsicum spp.). Many species have an alkaloid chemistry, including tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and the poisonous members Hyoscyamus (Henbane), Atropa (Belladonna), Datura (Jimsonweed), and Mandragora (Mandrake). These and others also have medicinal uses. Many taxa are grown as ornamentals, including Brugmansia, Cestrum, Nicotiana, Schizanthus, etc. (Mabberley 1987).

NOTE: In addition to the taxa included in the key below, several others deserve mention:

Solanum capsicastrum Link, False Jerusalem Cherry, is S. Amer. native grown for ornament and occasionally encountered as an escape. See NOTE at Solanum.

Solanum lycopersicum L. (=Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), the cultivated tomato, is sometimes found near old homesites or in dumps, but is not a permanent member of our flora. It has pinnately compound leaves and yellow corollas with recurved lobes.

Bouchetia erecta DC. is found just S. of our area and may someday be found here. It is a low herb with ascending stems, white funnelform flowers ca. 12 to 18 mm long, and capsules. Sheets from our area identified as Bouchetia have proved to be misidentified.

Petunia parviflora Juss. is scattered throughout TX in moist or wet soils of beaches and mudflats, but no specimens from this area have been seen. It is a prostrate herb, rooting at the nodes, with fleshy, spatulate leaves ca. 1 cm long, red-purple funnelform flowers ca. 6 to 7 mm long, and capsules. Cultivated petunias are of hybrid origin and may be found as occasional waifs, but do not persist or escape in our area.

1. Fruit a berry; corolla rotate, campanulate, urceolate, or sometimes funnelform ..................3

Ours annual or perennial herbs with rank-smelling foliage. Stems erect, ascending, or decumbent. Leaves alternate, blades ovate to elliptic, entire to sinuate-pinnatifid, glabrous to variously pubescent. Flowers large, showy, in ours pale, solitary, produced on short pedicels in the forks of the stem, usually erect. Calyx tubular or angled-cylindric, 5-toothed, dehiscent circumscissilely above the base after anthesis, the remaining disk enlarging somewhat and persisting beneath the capsule. Corolla funnelform to tubular, much longer than the calyx, the limb 5- or 10-toothed, convolute-plicate in bud. Stamens 5, equal, anther dehiscence longitudinal. Style about as long as the anthers, stigma capitate, 2-lobed or -lipped; ovary 2-celled or 4-celled because of a false septum. Capsule erect or nodding, dehiscent regularly by 2 or 4 apical valves or else splitting irregularly, the surface usually prickly. Seeds many, flattened.

As treated here without Brugmansia (flowers nodding, some taxa woody), 8 species of S. N. America, but some widely naturalized; 4 listed for TX (Kartesz 1998) with the synonymy somewhat confused; 3 collected locally.

Members of the genus have a powerful alkaloid chemistry. Some were/are used as ritual or sacred hallucinogens by Native Americans (Mabberley 1987). All parts of the plants are potentially poisonous, including the nectar. Most reported poisonings involve the deliberate use of seeds or leaves in an attempt to produce intoxication (Lampe 1985). Some species are cultivated for their showy flowers (Bailey, et al. 1976).

1. Fruiting pedicels erect; capsule regularly dehiscent via 4 valves; corolla 6 to 8 cm long .......

Plants with violet or lavender flowers and violet anthers have been designated var. tatula (L.) Torr. The color difference is the result of a single gene mutation (Mabberley 1987). Some sources feel that distinction at the varietal level is not justified (e.g. GPFA 1986).

The plants contain stramonium, a substance used in the treatment of asthma (Mabberley 1987).

TX to CA and N. Mex. May-Nov. [D. meteloides of TX authors, e.g. DC., but not D. meteloides Dunal; D. metel L. var. quinquecuspida Torr.].

NOTE: Some botanists consider D. wrightii and D. inoxia (below) to be conspecific (see, for example, GPFA 1986). If this proves to be the case, the name D. inoxia has priority.

See NOTE at D. wrightii, above.

Annual or perennial herbs, shrubs, or small trees, usually heavily scented and viscid-pubescent. Leaves alternate, entire to repand or pandurate, sessile or petiolate. Flowers few to many in panicles or racemes. Calyx tubular-campanulate, with 5 teeth or lobes. Corolla funnelform or salverform, the tube usually relatively long, the limb 5-lobed, usually spreading, plicate in bud. Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla. Stigma capitate. Capsule ovoid to slenderly ellipsoid, blunt or acute, 2-celled, dehiscent by 2 or 4 apical valves. Seeds many, tiny.

About 67 species of the Americas, S. Pacific, Australia, and SW. Afr.; 6 in TX; 2 confirmed from our area.

The most important species is N. tabacum which provides smoking and chewing tobacco in all its forms. One of its principal chemical components is nicotine, which is also used as an insecticide (Mabberley 1987). This and a number of other species (including our own N. glauca) are poisonous, having various alkaloid chemistries that act on the nervous system (Lampe 1985). Other species, notably N. alata, are grown as ornamentals for their showy and/or fragrant flowers.

This plant is poisonous, the particular toxin being the alkaloid anabasine. Human fatalities have resulted from ingestion of raw or cooked leaves (Lampe 1985; Tull 1987).

Small shrubs. Stems usually thorny and with short spur shoots. Leaves mostly fascicled, in TX material elongate, entire, sometimes somewhat fleshy. Flowers axillary, solitary or in small clusters. Calyx campanulate, with 4 to 6 regular or irregular teeth or lobes, sometimes somewhat bilabiate. Corolla campanulate, tubular-funnelform or salverform, the limb with 4 to 7 lobes. Stamens 4 or 5. Stigma 2-lobed or capitate. Fruit a dry or fleshy berry, often red, globose to ovoid, subtended by the persistent calyx which commonly splits irregularly as the fruit enlarges.

About 85 to 100 species of warm temperate areas, especially the Americas; 7 species in TX; apparently 1 here.

The berries of some are edible, but the leaves may be toxic, especially to livestock (Correll & Johnston 1970; Lampe 1985).

1. L. carolinianum Walt. var. quadrifidum (Dun.) C. L. Hitchc. Carolina Wolf-berry. Small shrub, sparingly short-branched and only sparingly thorny; stems erect to slightly spreading, to 1 m tall; herbage glabrous; young branchlets with short thorns to 1 cm long, older branchlets silvery, with spinose branchlets. Leaves rather succulent, usually in fascicles of 3 to 10, essentially spatulate, 0.7 to 2.5 cm long, 1 to 2(5) mm broad, apex rounded to acute, tapered to a sessile base, midvein scarcely or not visible. Flowers usually solitary, pedicels to 3 cm long (usually much shorter). Calyx tube 2.5 to 3.5 mm long, lobes 4, 1/3 as long as the tube, 1 to 2 mm long, usually more or less equal, triangular, obtuse, margins sometimes sparsely ciliate; corolla lavender to purple or blue-violet, 7 to 10 mm long, rotate-campanulate, tube 1 to 1.5 mm in diameter at the top of the ovary, 3 to 5 mm in diameter at the orifice, lobes 4 (or 5), spreading, equalling or longer than the tube, 4 to 6 mm long, ovate, abruptly narrowed at the base, apically rounded to slightly emarginate, glabrous; stamens exserted because the lobes spread, equalling or slightly shorter than the corolla lobes, pilose in the lower 1/3 to 1/4 and the corolla tube sparsely hairy nearby, anthers 1 to 1.5 mm long; style about as long as the filaments or a little shorter. Berry red, ovoid, fleshy, 0.8 to 1.5 cm long, ca. 1 cm in diameter, dark purple in old or dry material; seeds 50 or more. Near ponds, ditches, or marshes, on wet clay or salt flats, and in sandy-gravelly soil on brushy hills. Coastal and S. TX; MS to TX and NE. Mex. Jan.-Nov.

Uncommon in our area and included on the basis of two specimens, one of which is not determined with complete confidence. In identifying Lycium specimens, the length of the calyx lobes and their symmetry at anthesis is important, as is the length of the corolla lobes. In fruiting specimens, the calyx often splits and appears somewhat bilabiate so that the original length of the calyx teeth is not evident. Since the genus is poorly known from our area, the reader is referred to Correll and Johnston (1970) for any local material not matching the above description exactly (i.e., with an asymmetrical calyx, 5 or more calyx lobes, or calyx teeth less than 1/3 the length of the tube). L. berlandieri Dun. var. berlandieri would be the taxon most likely to occur here other than L. carolinianum.

Annual or perennial herbs, some from rhizomes. Stems erect to decumbent, usually branched. Leaves alternate or occasionally 2 or 3 together where internodes reduced, petiolate; blades generally ovate to lance-linear, entire to toothed or sinuate, often irregularly so, rarely more deeply lobed. Pubescence of stem and foliage various, from glabrous to sparsely to densely pubescent with simple, jointed, branched, stellate, or glandular hairs or a mixture of any of these. Flowers, in ours, solitary in the axils, pedicellate, usually nodding at anthesis. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, small at anthesis and enlarging greatly to enclose the fruit. Corolla campanulate to rotate, often reflexed, shallowly 5-lobed or entire, usually some shade of yellow, often with dark brown or black spots within or these faint or absent, also commonly pubescent within. Stamens 5, inserted near the base of the corolla tube, erect, not connivent around the style, filaments from filiform to about as broad as the anthers, in some taxa clavate, anthers yellow to blue or violet or sometimes edged or tinged with blue or violet. Style slender, stigma scarcely broader. Mature calyx (in fruit) strongly 5-angled or else 10-angled or nearly round, sometimes indented basally, glabrous to pubescent, usually strongly inflated and wholly enclosing the berry. Berry sessile or short-stipitate, dryish to juicy, globose, bilocular, many-seeded. Seeds yellow, glabrous, often minutely pitted.

About 80 species worldwide, especially common in Mex. and Cen. Amer.; 16 known from TX; 9 here. This treatment follows those of Waterfall (1958) and Sullivan (1985).

Some have brightly colored calyces and are cultivated for ornament, often with common names referring to Chinese or Japanese lanterns. The berries of some are edible, particularly those of P. philadelphica and P. pruinosa, known as tomatillos or husk tomatoes (Mabberley 1987). Several species were grown by Native Americans for food (Kindscher 1987). The unripe berries of some taxa, however, contain solanine glycoalkaloids and probably all unripe fruit should be considered potentially poisonous (Lampe, 1985).

NOTE: The key below is only for our immediate 7-county area; material from elsewhere should be referred to the Correll and Johnston (1970) and to Sullivan (1985) for identification and to a recent checklist such as that of Hatch, et al. (1990) for current nomenclature. Confident identification requires flowers at anthesis, mature capsules, and the presence of underground structures (or absolute knowledge of their form). Powerful magnification is needed to examine the pubescence.

1. Plants taprooted annuals; anthers usually violet or blue; flowers ca. 4 to 10(12) mm long; anthers ca. 1 to 2.5 mm long ...................................................................................................2

1. Plants perennial (roots often not collected); anthers yellow or sometimes tinged with blue; flowers (10)12 to 20 mm long; anthers 2 to 4 mm long .........................................................3

Several varieties have been described, though some authorities feel that they intergrade too much to be justifiable (e.g. GPFA 1986). If varieties are recognized, our plants belong to the following two:

var. pubescens Plants more or less villous; leaves usually with 5 to 8 teeth on each margin, blades not translucent. S. U.S.; also Mex. and W. I. Summer, ours mostly May-July. [P. barbadensis Jacq.; P. floridana Rydb.].

var. integrifolia (Dun.) Waterfall Plants not as hairy as in var. pubescens; leaf blades commonly entire or with only 3 or 4 weak teeth on each margin; blades usually translucent. E. 1/2 TX; S. U.S.; also Mex., Cen. Amer., and W.I. Apr.-Nov. [P. pruinosa of authors but not P. pruinosa L.].

Most or all of our plants belong to var. mollis--Field Ground-cherry--with hairs nonglandular; corolla spots pale to dark brown; fruiting calyces 1.5 to 3 cm in diameter. Disturbed ground, usually in sandy soil. Common. E. 1/2 TX; SE. OK and SW. AR, W. LA, and TX. Mar.-Oct. [P. viscosa L. subsp. mollis (Nutt.) Waterfall var. mollis].

Along the coast there is a second variety, var. variovestita (Waterfall) Sullivan, with the shorter hairs glandular, corolla spots purple-black, and mature calyx 2.5 to 3.5 cm in diameter. [P. variovestita Waterfall]. It is not expected here but intergrades between the two varieties are possible in the extreme southern portion of our area.

A second variety, var. spathulifolia (Torr.) Sullivan, occurs along the coast and is distinguished by entire margins, unreflexed corollas, and leaves typically at least slightly narrower than var. cinerascens [P. lanceolata var. spathulifolia Torr.; P. viscosa L. var. spathulifolia (Torr.) Gray]. Not present in our area, but mentioned here to as an update to the treatment given by Correll and Johnston (1970.)

This is one of the species whose fruit was eaten by Plains Indian tribes (Kindscher 1987).

As treated by Hatch, et al. (1990) and Kartesz (1998), 2 varieties in TX, either of which might be found here, but neither common.

var. virginiana Pubescence from short and retrorse to villous, not glandular; leaf blades ovate to lanceolate (rarely cordate), irregularly toothed to sinuate-dentate; corolla mostly 15 to 20 mm long; anthers yellow, sometimes tinged with blue or violet. Open woods, prairies, and disturbed areas in E. TX; E. U.S. and Can.; sporadic in the Cen. Rocky Mts. Apr.-June. [P. intermedia Rydb.; P. monticola C. Mohr].

var. texana (Rydb.) Waterfall Usually with several branches from near the base; herbage glabrous or nearly so; main leaves ovate, usually entire. Endemic to the Gulf Coast and occasionally slightly inland. Mar.-Jun.; sometimes also winter. No specimens from our area seen by the author, but within the range given by Hatch, et al. (1990). [P. texana Rydb.].

Two varieties, either of which might be found here according to the literature (Correll and Johnston 1970; Cronquist, et al. 1984; GPFA 1986), but neither seen by the author.

var. longifolia Leaf blades lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or narrowly rhombic, tapered to the petiole, only rarely ovate; anthers yellow. Open woods, hills, plains, prairies, deserts, etc. In most of TX; native to the Great Plains, extending to parts of the E. U.S. and W. to the Rocky Mts. and N. Mex. May-Sept. [P. virginiana P. Mill. var. sonorae (Torr.) Waterfall; P. pumila Nutt. var. sonorae Torr.; P. rigida Pollard and Ball; etc.].

var. subglabrata (Mackenzie and Bush) Cronq. Bladder Ground-cherry. Blades thinner-textured, broader, and more ovate than in var. longifolia, and more abruptly tapered to the petiole. Native to eastern deciduous forests and sporadic westward. [P. virginiana P. Mill. var. subglabrata (Mackenzie and Bush) Waterfall; P. subglabrata Mackenzie and Bush; P. macrophysa Rydb.; etc.].

Perennial herbs from taproots or rhizomes. Stems prostrate to ascending. Leaves alternate, simple, entire to pinnatifid, subsessile to petiolate; blade sometimes decurrent on the petiole, more or less glabrous to pubescent with simple, branched, or stellate, hairs, sometimes glandular. Flowers in groups of 1 to 4 in the axils of the leaves, pedicels elongating and becoming curved in fruit. Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed, accrescent in fruit and at least partly enclosing the berry tightly, not inflated, or angled, little if at all veiny. Corolla white or yellowish, sometimes tinged with purple or green, plicate in bud, subrotate, with white glandular or pubescent appendages in the throat, the 5 lobes shallow. Stamens inserted near the base of the corolla, anthers longitudinally dehiscent, yellow, filaments slender, terete. Stigma slender, little if at all broader than the style; ovary bilocular. Berry tightly enveloped (if not fully enclosed) by the mature calyx, whitish, somewhat dry. Seeds few, borne only on the lower part of the placentae, reniform, flattened, rugose or minutely pitted and/or reticulate; embryo markedly curved.

7 species of the W. U.S. and Mex.; all present in TX; 1 known from our area. This treatment is based, in part, on the work of Averett (1973).

The fruits are inedible.

1. C. edwardsiana Averett Perennial from rather woody roots; stems erect or spreading/reclining in age, 7 to 30 cm long, well-branched from the base and above, terete or faintly striate or angled, commonly cinereous or purplish at the base, glabrous to pubescent with short, stellate or occasionally simple or branched hairs, often with glandular hairs. Leaves linear-lanceolate to very narrowly rhombic, usually undulate, especially above the middle, but sometimes with a few shallow lobes, 2.5 to 7 cm long, 7 to 15 mm broad, basally attenuate, subsessile or short-petiolate, the midrib obvious and the smaller veins not so, surfaces more or less glabrous. Flowers solitary or sometimes paired, on pedicels 2 to 2.5 cm long and elongating in fruit, pubescent and with glandular hairs. Calyx 4 to 5 mm long, lobed about 1/2 the length, the lobes acute, pubescent with stellate, simple, and branched hairs; corolla white, drying yellow, sometimes with a purple tint, 10 to 15 mm broad, the lobes pubescent, especially marginally. Fruit 5 to 8 mm broad, enclosed in the calyx. Mostly on limestone outcrops in the Ed. Plat. and also N. Mex., but collected once or twice in Brazos Co. in 1967; possibly not a permanent member of our flora. Summer, but the Brazos Co. collections from April.

17 species of the SW. U.S. to S. Amer.; 1 species cultivated in Texas and occasionally escaping or persisting.

1. S. origanifolia (Lam.) Baill. Cock's-eggs. Perennial from a fleshy root; stems herbaceous, climbing, sometimes slightly woody at the base, freely branched, branches green; herbage more or less odiferous, from pubescent ot nearly glabrate. Leaves nearly opposite, petioles shorter than the blades; blades ovate to ovate-rhombic or suborbicular, 0.5 to 4 cm long, 0.3 to 3.3 cm broad, entire to undulate-crenate. Flowers solitary in the axils, pedicels filiform, 5 to 10 mm long, little shorter than the petioles, pubescent. Calyx ca. 2.5 to 3.5 mm long, the lobes lanceolate, united only basally; corolla white, urceolate, 7 to 10 mm long, 3 to 5 mm broad, the 5 lobes 1 to 2 mm long, reflexed or spreading, margins pubescent, interior of tube with a hairy ring; stamens attached about midway up the corolla tube or above, anthers exserted; style slender, stigma exserted. Berry ovoid-oblong to ellipsoid, yellow or white, with many seeds. Native to S. Amer., cultivated and sometimes persisting or escaping, not at all common in our area. Mar.-Oct. [Author in some older sources listed as (Lam.) Baill.; S. rhomboidea (Gill. & Hook.) Miers; Perizoma rhomboidea (Hooker) Small].

The fruit is said to be edible but with a poor flavor (Correll & Johnston 1970; Mabberley 1987).

Herbs, shrubs, trees, or vines (ours mostly herbaceous) with various habits, sometimes armed with prickles or spines. Herbage glabrous or variously pubescent, sometimes with stellate hairs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, simple to bipinnatifid, the larger ones sometimes accompanied by smaller lateral ones, estipulate; . Inflorescences racemose, cymose, or appearing paniculate, peduncles axillary or terminal and appearing lateral as an axillary shoot elongates. Flowers perfect, usually 5-merous except for the gynoecium, rarely otherwise. Calyx of united sepals, persistent, sometimes accrescent and tightly enclosing the fruit but not inflated. Corolla usually rotate, white, blue, purple, or yellow, regular or rarely slightly irregular, plicate in bud, the lobes valvate or valvate with the margins inrolled. Stamens connivent around the style, filaments short, anthers apically dehiscent by pores or short introrse slits, sometimes dimorphic. Fruit a juicy or semi-dry berry, usually 2-celled, some species with clumps of stone cells attached to the fruit wall or scattered among the seeds.

About 1,400 species nearly worldwide; 24 listed for TX (Hatch, et. al 1990); 6 here. Reference: Schilling (1981).

The genus is important for the potato, S. tuberosum and the eggplant, S. melongena. Recent studies suggest that the tomato belongs to the genus as S. lycopersicum L. . Many taxa are poisonous to humans and/or livestock, some have edible or ornamental fruit, and some are troublesome weeds (Mabberley 1987).

1. Pubescence of simple hairs or plants glabrous; spines or prickles absent; flowers white (sometimes tinged with purple), to ca. 15 mm in diameter .....................................................2

1. Pubescence of stellate hairs; prickles or spines usually present somewhere on the plant; flowers blue, violet, or yellow (rarely white), more than 15 mm in diameter ..........................3

The foliage and immature fruit are poisonous, with fatalities reported in children (Tull 1987), though the mature berries are reputedly edible (Cronquist, et al. 1984; Lampe 1985; GPFA 1986). S. nigrum (strict sense) has been used medicinally since the time of Dioscorides (Kindscher 1992).

This species is reported to have caused human and/or livestock poisonings (Tull 1987). The Zunis used a tea made from the powdered root to treat nausea (Kindscher 1992).

The Zunis chewed the roots of this plant for toothache, and packed it in cavities (Kindscher 1992).

Livestock and deer have been poisoned by this species, and there is at least one report of a child having been fatally poisoned (GPFA 1986). The plant produces a suite of alkaloids, including solanine (Kindscher 1992). It is listed as poisonous by the American Medical Association (Lampe 1985).

Said to be poisonous (GPFA 1986; Tull 1987) but not listed by the American Medical Association (Lampe, 1985). However, it is probably safest to treat all leaves and immature fruit of any Solanum as poisonous and the mature fruit as suspect.

10 species of tropical America; 1 species native to TX.

1. C. annuum L. var. glabriusculum (Dunal) Heiser & Pickersgill Chilli Piquín, Bird Pepper, Bush Redpepper. Technically a shrub, but commonly growing as a perennial or even small enough to resemble a taprooted annual, to 3 m tall or long, usually smaller; stems green, brittle, sometimes zig-zagging from node to node; herbage glabrous or very sparsely puberulent. Petioles shorter than the blades; blades ovate to elliptic-lanceolate or lanceolate, apically acute to acuminate, base rounded to tapered, (1.5)2 to 5(6) cm long, to 3 cm broad. Flowers mostly solitary or sometimes paired, pedicels slender, spreading or reflexed, sometimes becoming stouter in fruit. Calyx small, with 5 shallow lobes in flower, becoming cup-like and truncate in fruit; corolla white, rotate, star-shaped, 7 to 10 mm across; anthers usually bluish. Fruit to ca. 15 mm long, ovoid to more or less globose, red or yellowish at maturity, persistent, very pungent. Along arroyos or rivers, in thickets or groves, or in vacant lots. Ed. Plat. and S. TX., infrequent but present in our area. TX to AZ, also S. FL and widespread in tropical Amer. Flowering throughout the year. [C. annuum L. var. minus (Fing.) Shinners and var. aviculare D'Arcy & Eshbaugh].

The berries are very pungent and useful in cooking, but can cause gastric discomfort if eaten in large quantities (Tull 1987). Handling the fruit or seeds can cause pain and redness in exposed skin (Lampe 1985).

This is the wild-growing form of the species. C. annuum also includes most of the cultivated peppers, these belonging to var. annuum and being divided into groups---cayenne or chile, bell, cherry, etc. Var. frutescens (L.) Kuntze [C. frutescens L.] is the tabasco pepper. Capsaicin from peppers is used medicinally as a local stimulant or counter-irritant, usually in very minute amounts (Mabberley 1987).

Ours annual or perennial herbs (elsewhere also shrubs and trees). Stems twining dextrorsely (to the right). Leaves alternate (absent or scale-like in parasitic Cuscuta), simple to lobed or compound, estipulate. Flowers terminal or axillary, solitary, cymose, racemose, or paniculate, commonly subtended by bracts, regular, hypogynous, usually 5-merous (sometimes 3- or 4-merous in Cuscuta). Sepals equal or unequal, free or basally united, imbricate, persistent, sometimes accrescent. Corolla sympetalous, rotate to salverform or funnelform (rarely curved or somewhat irregular and not so in ours), usually with 5 lobes or angles, induplicate in bud and pleated. Stamens 5, epipetalous, alternate with the corolla lobes, free, anthers usually linear to oblong, extrorse. Nectary disk absent or present as a disk, cup, or ring, sometimes lobed. Gynoecium of 2(3) united carpels, usually with as many locules (sometimes 1, 4, or 5); ovules 2 per locule; styles usually slender, solitary and lobed or bifid or else styles 2 and separate or nearly so; stigmas capitate to 2-lobed, clavate, or linear. Fruits usually capsular, dehiscent by valves, transversely dehiscent, circumscissile, or breaking irregularly, in some species indehiscent. Seeds ca. 1 to 4 per fruit, usually fewer than the ovules, glabrous to pubescent, endosperm absent or meager.

As treated here, inclusive of Cuscuta (which is often separated as a monogeneric family on the basis of characters such as pollen and embryo morphology and the position of corolla lobes in bud), ca. 58 genera and 1,650 species worldwide, especially in the tropic and temperate zones; 12 genera and 79 species listed for Texas (Hatch, et al., 1990); 6 genera and 24 species here.

In some areas, generic boundaries are disputed, unclear, or subject to interpretation. E.g. Stylisma was formerly in Bonamia, some Bonamia were formerly in Breweria, Calystegia is sometimes treated in Convolvulus, Petrogenia is sometimes included in Bonamia, and some taxa in Ipomoea have been or can be placed in Merremia, Operculina, Turbina, Xenostegia, etc.

The family has many ornamentals in Ipomoea, Convolvulus, and so on. I. batatas is the sweet potato commonly grown in the southern U.S. Cuscuta includes leafless parasites that can cause crop losses if not controlled (Mabberley 1987).

Rootless (by flowering time) parasitic herbs, attached to the host plant via haustoria, usually without chlorophyll and yellow or orange, but some with small amounts of chlorophyll in various organs. Stems filiform or slender, twining, fleshy. Leaves reduced to very small scales or absent. Flowers small, ca. 1 to 6 mm long, sessile or short-pedicelled, few to many, usually in cymose clusters, but sometimes through branching the clusters compact and the inflorescence form obscure or else the flowers produced endogenously (directly from the host tissue). Flowers (3- or 4-)5-merous, regular, perfect. Sepals united or nearly completely free. Corolla campanulate to cylindric or somewhat funnelform, shallowly or deeply lobed. Stamens alternate with the corolla lobes, epipetalous, a row of scale-like, fringed or fimbriate appendages bridged (attached to the corolla and/or each other) near the filament bases or below. Ovary 2-celled, each locule with 2 ovules; styles rarely united, usually distinct, stigmas capitate to linear. Fruit a capsule, circumscissile near the base or dehiscing irregularly. Seeds ca. 1 to 3 mm long, brown and glabrous, the embryo without cotyledons, small and filiform or with one end enlarged

About 145 species worldwide; 18 listed for TX with one doubtful (Hatch, et al. 1990); 10 species present or highly likely in our area. See page 578a for addendum.

Useful references are Yuncker (1943) and Gandhi, Thomas, and Hatch (1987). These include some rather helpful illustrations.

Some taxa are or have been serious pests in crops, with harvest and spread of the host spreading the parasite's seeds as well. Some taxa grow on only one or a very few hosts, while others are capable of growing on a wide variety of hosts.

NOTE: Confident identification of Cuscuta requires examining the flowers and fruits under a good dissecting scope. In pressing Cuscuta, it is advisable to mount enough to show the host and part of the parasite. The specimen should be padded with foam or folded newspaper so that the fragile flowers and fruits are not crushed. A generous portion of the material should be dried unpressed and stored in an attached fragment packet (Austin 1979).

The small number of collections and the rather high proportion of collections which are misidentified or damaged beyond identification make a definitive list problematic. Complete distributions by county have not been published.

var. indecora Pretty Dodder, Showy Dodder, Largeseed Dodder. Stems 0.4 to 0.6 mm in diameter. Inflorescences loose to dense paniculate-cymose clusters. Flowers 2 to 3 mm long from base to corolla sinuses, variable in size and proportions, whitish, smooth or more usually granulate to papillate-hispid; pedicels equal to or shorter than the flowers or sometimes even longer, 2 to 5 mm long. Calyx usually shorter than the corolla tube, the lobes triangular-ovate, overlapping a little basally, acute or obtuse-ish, to 1.5 mm long and wide; corolla campanulate, the lobes shorter than the tube, erect to spreading, triangular-ovate, the tips acute and inflexed; staminal scales reaching the filaments, bridged at or below the middle, ovate to oblong or spatulate, with abundant medium-length fringe; stamens shorter than the corolla lobes or about as long, filaments stout, to 0.7 mm long, about equalling the oblong anthers which are often purplish; styles slender to subulate, about equalling the ovary, to 1.7 mm long, divergent in fruit; ovary globose-ovoid. Capsule depressed-globose, to 4 mm broad, the rim of the interstylar opening thickened, fruit usually enveloped by the withered corolla which eventually splits and falls; seeds ca. 1.7 mm long, mostly oval, with 1 or 2 flat faces. On a wide range of woody and herbaceous hosts of various families. Definitely present in our area; common in the SE. U.S.; FL to CA, N. to MN, MI, and SD; also Mex., W.I., and S. Amer. Summer-fall. [Includes var. hispidula (Engelm.) Yuncker and var. subnuda (Engelm.) Yuncker; C. decora Engelm. and var. indecora (Choisy) Engelm., var. pulcherrima (Scheele) Engelm., and var. subnuda Engelm.].

var. longisepala Yunck. Longsepal Dodder. As described for var. indecora above, but the calyx lobes lanceolate and generally longer than the corolla tube. More or less throughout the E. 1/2 state.

var. gronovii Gronovius' Dodder, Common Dodder. Stems of medium width or sometimes coarse, 0.4 to 0.6 mm broad. Inflorescences loose or dense paniculate-cymose clusters or occasionally formed endogenously; pedicels 0.5 to 4 mm long, usually shorter than the flowers, rarely longer. Flowers 2 to 2.5 mm long from base to corolla sinuses, often with sparse to dense translucent, gland-like cells. Sepals basally united, calyx ca. 1/2 as long as the corolla tube, lobes oval-ovate to suborbicular, obtuse, bases overlapping, margins usually entire or rarely serrulate, to 1.7 mm long and 1.5 mm broad; corolla tube campanulate to globose, lobes shorter than the tube, ovate, obtuse, spreading or reflexed, to 1.5 mm long and 1.5 mm wide; staminal scales shorter than the corolla tube, bridged below the middle, not quite reaching the stamen attachments, oblong, deeply fringed apically and less so basally and on the bridge; filaments to 1 mm long, stout and somewhat subulate, about equalling or longer than the anthers, anthers oval-oblong, to 0.7 mm long; styles 1.5 to 2 mm long, shorter than to equalling the ovary, thickened at the base, stout to somewhat subulate, stigmas capitate; ovary depressed-globose. Capsule globose-conic to obpyriform, enclosed in the withered corolla, to 4 mm broad; seeds 2 to 4, oblong-ovoid to subglobose, slightly flattened. On a wide variety of herbaceous and woody hosts. Very common in the NE. states and Canada; N. S. to ND and Man., S. to FL, TX, and AZ; also W.I. Summer-fall. [C. vulgivaga Engelm. and varieties thereof].

var. latiflora Engelm. Similar to the typical variety, but the flowers smaller, calyx lobes more oblong-oval, overlapping less at the base, and long enough to reach the corolla sinuses; corolla tube broadly campanulate, the throat wider than the tube and the tube tapered toward the base so the withered corolla usually borne at the base of the capsule and the capsule protruding and essentially naked. In the Blackland Prairie and Post Oak Savannah regions.

1. Calyx lobes overlapping and often forming angles at the base; withered corolla enclosing the smooth

capsule to about the middle; corolla not saccate; interstylar opening inconspicuous ...................9a. var. pentagona

1. Calyx lobes scarcely overlapping; withered corolla enclosing most of the capsule, which is papillate apically; interstylar opening relatively conspicuous ...................................................................................................................2

2(1) Calyx and pedicel not papillate .........................................................................................................9b. var. glabrior

2. Calyx and pedicel papillate ..........................................................................................................9c. var. pubescens

9a. var. pentagona Field Dodder, Five-angled Dodder. Stems slender to medium in width. Inflorescences loose, cymose clusters or glomerulate-cymose clusters; pedicels to 1.7 mm long, about equalling to slightly shorter than the flower. Flowers 1 to 2.5 mm long from base to corolla sinuses, enlarging as the fruit develops, smooth or with scattered, translucent, glandular-like cells. Calyx about as long as the corolla tube, the lobes overlapping at the base, sometimes forming strong angles at the sinuses, ovate to oval-ovate or rhomboid, obtuse, to ca. 1.6 mm long and about as wide, sometimes unequal, minutely serrulate; corolla campanulate, lobes lanceolate or triangular-ovate, about equalling or slightly longer than the tube, acute to acuminate, spreading or reflexed but with tips inflexed, to 1.2 mm long and 1 mm broad, sometimes granulate, but not papillate;

staminal scales bridged below the middle, ovate-oblong, reaching the filaments, conspicuously and abundantly fringed, to ca. 1.5 mm long; stamens shorter than the corolla lobes, filaments to 0.6 mm long, equal to or slightly longer than the oval anthers which may reach 0.4 mm long; styles to 0.7 mm long, slender, equalling or slightly shorter than the ovary, stigmas capitate; ovary globose. Capsule depressed-globose to ovoid, enclosed below the middle by the withered corolla, interstylar opening more or less inconspicuous; seeds basically ovoid, ca. 1 to 1.5 mm long. The host plant varies, but the plant sometimes prefers cultivated legumes such as alfalfa. Throughout much of the U.S., from the E. coast W. to MT and CA; also Mex. and W.I. About May-July(Sept.). [Includes var. microcalyx Engelm., var. typica Yuncker; includes C. campestris Yuncker, formerly separated on the basis of a non-angled calyx. The angularity of the calyx has proven to be variable and unreliable (Gandhi, Thomas, and Hatch 1987); C. arvensis Beyr. and var. pentagona (Engelm.) Engelm].

9b. var. glabrior (Engelm.) Gandhi, Thomas, & Hatch Stems smooth, medium in diameter. Inflorescences loose or dense cymose-globular clusters, subsessile or on short pedicels usually no longer than the flowers. Flowers ca. 2 mm long from base to corolla sinuses, white to reddish, often with many translucent, glandular-like cells. Calyx united to about the middle, about as long as the corolla tube or slightly shorter, relatively loose around the corolla, lobes ovate, oval-ovate, or triangular-ovate, usually not overlapping at the base and the sinuses sometimes slightly obtuse, tips obtuse or sometimes acute or acuminate; corolla campanulate to subglobose, often becoming saccate or urceolate between the stamen attachments, smooth or often papillate to some degree, lobes triangular to nearly lanceolate and about as long as the tube, spreading to reflexed and the tips acute to acuminate, inflexed; staminal scales bridged below the middle, oblong-spatulate, with conspicuous fringe; stamens shorter than the corolla lobes, filaments slender, about as long as to slightly longer than the anthers, anthers oval; styles equalling the ovary or a little longer, stigmas capitate; ovary depressed-globose, more or less scabrous-papillate, especially above the middle. Capsule depressed-globose, the interstylar opening relatively large, surface with many translucent, glandular cells and scabrous at least apically, rarely smooth, surrounded nearly completely by the withered corolla, easily broken from the calyx and possibly mistakable for circumscissile; seeds ca. 1 mm long, more or less oval in outline. Parasitic on a wide variety of plants, primarily herbs. Throughout much of TX; definitely present in our area; NM to TX, OK, and LA; S. into Mex. Summer-fall. [C. glabrior (Engelm.) Yuncker and forma pedicellata Yuncker; C. verrucosa Engelm. and var. glabrior Engelm.; C. pentagona Engelm. var. verrucosa (Engelm.) Yuncker, C. arvensis Beyr. var. verrucosa (Engelm.) Engelm.].

9c. var. pubescens (Engelm.) Yuncker Similar to var. glabrior, except the pedicel and all floral parts densely papillate. Mostly W. of our area but known from calcareous outcrops Grimes Co. [C. glabrior (Engelm.) Yuncker var. pubescens (Engelm.) Yuncker; C. arvensis Beyr. var. pubescens Engelm.].

Perennials, stems trailing or creeping, sometimes rooting at the nodes and/or mat-forming. Leaves relatively long-petiolate, commonly erect, blades orbicular-ovate to orbicular-reniform, entire. Flowers small, single or paired in the axils, long-pedicelled. Sepals 5, basally united. Corolla rotate-campanulate or shallowly funnelform, deeply 5-lobed, pale green to white. Ovary deeply 2-lobed. Fruit dehiscent or indehiscent, with 1 to 4 seeds.

9 species of tropical and subtropical areas; in TX; 1 here with another to be looked for. Sometimes placed in the separate family Dichondraceae.

Some species can be grown as groundcovers or lawn substitutes but will not take as much foot traffic as grass.

1. D. carolinensis Michx. Grass Ponyfoot. Stems prostrate to spreading, rooting at the nodes and patch- or mat-forming, sparsely pubescent, to 12 cm tall, but this often only the height of the leaves. Leaf blades suborbicular to reniform, (0.5)1 to 3 cm broad, sparsely pubescent below, green on both surfaces, generally held upright on petioles 1 to 4 cm long, sometimes shallowly cupped; leaf buds often nodding. Flowers solitary, pedicels 1/3 to 2/3 as long as the petioles, straight and upright, not recurved. Sepals 2 to 3 m long at anthesis, 2 to 3 times longer than wide, oblong or linear to spatulate, obtuse to rounded, pubescent externally; corolla white to light green, rotate-campanulate, slightly shorter than the calyx, the lobes rounded; anthers white; the 2 carpels nearly separate, the 2 globose halves side by side, pubescent; styles separate, stigma capitate. Seeds usually 1 per carpel. Damp ground of lawns, roadsides, open woods, etc. S. TX; TX to VA and FL. Feb.-June. [D. repens Forst. and var. carolinensis (Michx.) Choisy.

Sometimes grown as a ground cover.

NOTE: D. recurvata Tharp. & M. C. Johnst. has been reported for Cen. TX but, so far, has not been collected in our area. It may be present in the far W. portion of our region. It has pedicels recurved abruptly near the summit and calyx 2.5 to 3.2 mm long at anthesis, the lobes 1.5 to 2 times longer than wide. D. micrantha Urban is similar, but has a calyx 1.5 to 2 mm long at anthesis and stems mostly less than 1 mm wide. It is often cultivated as a lawn substitute in the south; we are out of its natural range, but it may be present as an occasional escape.

Perennial herbs. Stems usually several to many from the base, prostrate to erect, not twining. Herbage pubescent. Leaves sessile to subsessile, entire. Flowers axillary, solitary or in few-flowered cymes, sessile or pedunculate. Sepals 5. Corolla rotate to broadly and shallowly funnelform, white to lavender, purple, or blue (ours white to lavender, sometimes drying purple). Ovary with 1 or 2 locules; styles 2, each 2-branched, stigmas filiform. Capsule with 1 to 4 seeds.

98 species of tropical and subtropical America (2 extending to the E. hemisphere); 3 in TX; 2 here.

1. Leaves densely pubescent on both surfaces, the hairs loosely appressed to spreading; sepals linear to narrowly lanceolate; corolla lavender to nearly white, drying purple .............

Ours annual or perennial herbs (elsewhere also shrubs). Stems trailing to twining, decumbent, or in some taxa erect, glabrous to sparsely or densely pubescent. Leaves sessile to petiolate, blades sagittate, hastate, or ovate, less often ovate-lanceolate or linear, entire to crenate, lobed, or laciniate, glabrous or pubescent. Flowers axillary, solitary or cymose; peduncle and pedicels developed. Bracts scale-like to linear, elliptic, ovate, or else absent. Sepals nearly equal or the outer shorter than the inner, in ours suborbicular to ovate or elliptic, glabrous or pubescent. Corolla funnelform or funnelform-campanulate, 5-angled or with 5 shallow lobes, white to pink or rose, glabrous or margins puberulent. Stamens included, unequal, 2 shorter than the other 3, base of filaments glandular pubescent; anthers basally auriculate. Ovary ovoid to subglobose, 2-celled, glabrous to pubescent; style 1, stigmas 2, filiform to cylindrical or subulate, more or less flattened, slightly acute. Capsule 2-locular, with 4 valves. Seeds 1 to 4, glabrous.

About 250 species worldwide, especially in temperate regions; 2 species in TX, both present in our area. Plants of the genus Calystegia (ca. 25 species worldwide; 2 in TX, neither apparently here) are sometimes included in Convolvulus but differ in having, among other features, usually conspicuous floral bracts and unilocular fruits.

Several species are terrible weeds, especially C. arvensis, a native of Eurasia that is widely

naturalized. Other species are cultivated for their flowers, notably C. tricolor, whose blossoms are white or purple with a white throat and yellow eye (Mabberley 1987).

This plant is sometimes a troublesome weed in crops such as cotton and grains (Kirkpatrick, 1992).

This plant can be an aggressive weed in field crops (Mabberley 1987). It is listed as a noxious weed in CA. (Hickman 1993). Tull (1987) mentions a yellow dye made from the whole plant.

Herbaceous perennial from single or fascicled roots. Stems several to many, prostrate to ascending, straight or twining, sometimes forming clumps or mats, or sometimes the lower portions appearing rhizomatous, overall to 2 m long or more. Leaves sessile or short-petiolate, the blades entire, variously shaped. Flowers solitary or few in pedunculate axillary clusters. Sepals 5. Corolla funnelform to campanulate, with 5 shallow lobes or 5-angled, white to lavender. Stamens 5, exserted or included. Styles 2, united at the base or nearly to the summit, free branches 2, sometimes short or unequal (rarely 1 obsolete); stigmas small, capitate. Capsule chartaceous, 2-locular, 1- to 4-seeded, longer than wide.

6 species of the S. and E. U.S.; 4 in TX; 1 here. Formerly included by some authors in Bonamia and some taxa with synonyms in Breweria.

1. S. pickeringii (Torr. ex M. A. Curtis) Gray var. pattersonii (Fern. & Schub.) Myint. Bigpod Bonamia. Plants usually from a single woody root, the woody bases of previous seasons' stems often remaining; stems 1 to 2 m long or more, prostrate, trailing or reclining on surrounding plants, often pale purple-brown, sparsely to densely and minutely pubescent and with a few longer hairs. Leaves sessile or essentially so, blades linear, acute to obtuse, entire, 2 to 7 cm long, 1 to 3 m broad, minutely pubescent (at least beneath) to glabrate. Flowers 1 to 5 in bracteate axillary cymes; peduncles 3 to 7 cm long, equalling or exceeding the calyces; pedicels of lateral flowers 4 to 20 mm long, central flowers sometimes sessile; bracts similar to leaves (0.5)1.5 to 2.5 cm long. Sepals ovate to ovate-lanceolate or ovate-orbicular, apically acute to obtuse, 3.5 to 6 mm long, 3 to 5 mm broad, with pale appressed hairs dorsally; corolla campanulate to campanulate-funnelform, 10 to 18 mm long, limb entire or shallowly 5-lobed, pubescent between the pleats; stamens slightly exserted, filaments glabrous or rarely with scattered hairs near the base, anthers basally sagittate, oblong; ovary ovoid, bilocular, villous; styles fused almost to the base of the stigmas, style branches unequal, 1 to 1.5 mm long, stigma capitate. Capsule ovoid, pubescent; seeds 1 or 2, smooth and brown. Sandy open areas such as prairies, open woods, and bog margins. This variety in E. and Cen. TX; E. IA, IL, and KS, S. to TX and LA. May-Sept. [Breweria pickeringii (Torr.) A. Gray var. pattersonii Fern. & Schub.; S. pattersonii (Fern. & Schub.) G. N. Jones].

About 120 species of tropical and subtropical areas; 1 species in TX.

1. J. tamnifolia (L.) Griseb. Hairy Clustervine. Annual; stems twining, climbing, or creeping, sparsely to densely pilose, to 2 m long, but often beginning to flower while still young and erect. Leaves petiolate; blades cordate or ovate to elliptic-ovate, 3 to 12 cm long, 2 to 9 cm broad, acuminate, the larger ones basally cordate, some with bases rounded, margin pilose, surfaces sometimes sparsely pilose. Peduncles axillary, often shorter than the leaves at anthesis, elongating with age and often ending longer than the leaves; inflorescence densely cymose, more or less capitate, 2 to 3 cm broad, subtended by leafy, lanceolate to elliptic bracts. Sepals 5, free, lanceolate to subulate, densely hispid-pilose, ca. 2/3 as long as the corolla; corolla 12 to 16 mm long, 10 to 20 across, funnelform-campanulate, 5-angled, blue; stamens 5; style 1, stigmas 2, ovoid, oblong, or elliptical, more or less flattened; ovary bilocular. Capsule subglobose, 4 to 6 mm long, 4-seeded; seeds ca. 2 mm long, brown to black, glabrous. Roadsides, disturbed or cultivated areas, and streambeds. E. TX; VA to FL, W. to TX, S. to Brazil. July-Oct. [Thyella tamnifolia (L.) Raf.].

Ours annual or perennial herbs (elsewhere also woody vines, shrubs, and some trees). Stems prostrate to erect or trailing, creeping, or twining to the right, glabrous to variously pubescent, some (none of ours) rooting at the nodes. Leaves sessile to petiolate, simple and entire to lobed or else palmately compound or pinnately dissected, base of simple or lobed leaves commonly cordate and apices acute to acuminate, surfaces glabrous or variously pubescent. Flowers axillary or terminal, in cymose, thyrsoid, or rarely racemose inflorescences, sometimes flowers solitary; peduncles and pedicels glabrous to pubescent. Bracts present, varying from scale-like to leafy; bracteoles scale-like. Sepals 5, overlapping, often unequal, from nearly linear to nearly orbicular, variously pubescent. Corolla typically funnelform, sometimes salverform, very rarely campanulate or urceolate, usually glabrous, variously colored, in our species shades of white, pink, purple, blue, or red, usually open for less than a day. Stamens included or exserted, unequal, filaments glandular-pubescent at the base; anthers oblong. Ovary with 2 to 4 locules; style 1, stigma globose or with 2 or 3 globose lobes. Capsule variously dehiscent or indehiscent, with 1 to 4(6) seeds. Seeds glabrous to pubescent.

About 500 species from the tropics to the warm temperate regions; 39 listed for TX (Hatch, et al. 1990); 7 here

The genus includes many ornamentals, among them I. purpurea, I. tricolor, I. violacea, etc. Sweet potatoes, commonly called yams in the southern U.S. (but not to be confused with the true yam, Dioscorea), are I. batatas. some species have medicinal value, mostly as purgatives, and the seeds of some contain hallucinogenic alkaloids (Mabberley 1987).

NOTE: Because they are not persistent members of our flora, the following key does not include species likely to be found only in cultivation or around homesites.

This plant is a beautiful addition to the home landscape, especially on arbors and fences. It is attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds.

Plains tribes used the root as a cathartic and diuretic, as did doctors among early European settlers (Kindscher 1992).

Capable of hybridizing with I. cordatotriloba, below. It is possible that there may be individuals which are not strictly referable to either species.

Three varieties; two in TX. Capable of hybridizing with I. lacunosa, above.

var. cordatotriloba Sharppod Morning-glory. Stems and leaves glabrous to moderately hispid-pilose; sepals hispid-pilose, at least marginally. E. 1/3 TX (but absent from near the Red River), W. to Medina and Menard Cos.; SE. U.S. Very common here. [I. trichocarpa Ell. var. trichocarpa; I. carolina (L.) Pursh, but not I. carolina L.; I. carolina sensu Small, not sensu Poir.]

var. torreyana (Gray) D. Austin Stems and leaves glabrous; sepals glabrous. Cen. TX: Dallas, Throckmorton, Sutton, and Val Verde Cos. S. to the lower Rio Grande Valley, rare in E. TX; also Mex. [I. trichocarpa Ell. var. torreyana (Gray) Shinners; I. trifida of some authors, in part, but not I. trifida G. Don; I. trifida var. torreyana Gray; I. trifida var. berlandieri Gray].

One of our most common and showiest late summer and fall wildflowers. Tull (1987) reports a pale yellow dye from the flowers.

Ours annual or perennial herbs (elsewhere also subshrubs). Leaves all opposite, all alternate, or opposite below and passing to alternate above, simple and entire to pinnately divided or compound (some other taxa palmatifid), margins entire to toothed, glabrous to pubescent and/or glandular. Flowers terminal or axillary, pedicellate or sessile, solitary, paired, or in cymes, the cymes often clustered into corymb-like or paniculate inflorescences. Flowers perfect, hypogynous, regular or slightly irregular. Sepals (4)5, united basally, the calyx wholly herbaceous and accrescent in fruit or with herbaceous ribs connected by scarious membranes, these usually ruptured by the developing fruit, calyx lobes linear to deltoid, entire to trifid, sometimes spinose. Corolla (4)5-merous, rotate to salverform, funnelform, or campanulate, usually regular, sometimes slightly zygomorphic. Stamens (4)5, included or exserted, epipetalous within the corolla tube, often at different levels, equal or unequal. Carpels 3, united; style 1, with (2)3 linear stigma lobes, included or exserted. Fruit usually a 3-celled capsule, loculicidally dehiscent (or rarely indehiscent or circumscissile, but not in ours). Seeds 1 to many per cell, variously rounded, angular, or winged, in some taxa viscid or mucilaginous when moistened.

About 20 genera and 275 species of the Americas and Eurasia; 7 genera and 33 species in TX; 3 genera and 5 species here, usually on sandy soils.

Many taxa are cultivated for ornament, including species of Phlox, Ipomopsis, and Cobaea (Mabberley 1987).

1. Leaves essentially entire, all opposite or opposite below and passing to alternate above .....

Ours annual or perennial herbs (elsewhere sometimes subshrubs). Stems usually erect. Herbage pubescent with glandless or glandular hairs or sometimes glabrous. Leaves opposite or opposite below and alternate above, simple, elliptic to linear, subulate, or ovate, entire or essentially so, sessile or subsessile. Flowers terminal, in bracted corymb-like or paniculate clusters or occasionally solitary, 5-merous, regular. Sepals united for ca. 3/8 to 3/4 their length, connected by a scarious/hyaline membranes, calyx teeth acute to acuminate, cuspidate, or aristate, often pubescent within. Corolla salverform, pink, red, lavender, purple, bluish, or white (rarely yellow), the lobes obtuse to cuspidate/apiculate, truncate, or notched-obcordate. Nectary commonly present. Stamens distinctly uneven, the filaments relatively short and inserted unevenly in the corolla tube, anthers usually included or in some taxa exserted. Ovary with either a short or very long style, stigma lobes 3. Capsule ovoid to oblong or ellipsoid. Seeds 1 to few (or several) per locule (typically seeds fewer than ovules), not mucilaginous or viscid when moistened.

About 67 species in N. Amer. (and 1 in NE. Asia); 12 in TX; 3 here. The genus is very diverse in TX and many species have infraspecific taxa.

Phlox provides some important garden plants. P. stolonifera is a creeping rock-garden plant or groundcover, P. paniculata is the parent of many perennial border plants, and our own P. drummondii boasts many cultivars of showy annuals (Mabberley 1987).

Divided into 9 subspecies; 5 in TX; apparently only 1 here.

subsp. pilosa Downy Phlox. Plants with abundant glandular pubescence in the upper parts; larger leaves 4 to 8 cm long, 3 to 9 mm wide (usually in the narrow end of this range); sepals subulate, 8 to 12 mm long, with awns 1.5 to 3 mm long; corolla tube 1 to 1.6 cm long, pubescent to glabrous. Open woods, moist meadows, hillsides, roadsides, creek bottoms, etc. E. 1/3 TX; WI to NY and CT, S. to FL and TX, W. to KS and OK. Spring. [P. pilosa L. var. virens (Michx.) Wherry; P. vilosissima (Gray) Small (in part); P. agrillacea Clute & Ferris.

Three varieties have been described, all of which are possible here (but some plants not assignable with confidence). Kartesz (1998) no longer recognizes varietal distinctions.

var. humilis Whiteh. Plants diminutive, leaves mostly less than 3 mm broad, corolla tube ca. 9 mm long, the lobes only ca. 3 mm broad.

var. cuspidata Some leaves more than 3 mm broad, corolla tube 9 to 12 mm long, the lobes ca. 7 mm long and 5 mm broad, usually sharply pointed. Common in our area.

var. grandiflora Whiteh. Some leaves more than 3 mm broad, corolla tube 11 to 15 mm long, lobes ca. 11 mm long and 8 mm broad.

This taxon has been divided into 6 subspecies or varieties based largely on corolla color; 4 variants are possible here.

1. Flower color in a given population highly variable, with many different colors present (red, pink, white, purple, etc.); stems well-branched, usually tall and stout; leaves relatively short and broad ...............................3a. var. peregrina

1. Flower color in a given population generally varying little; stems not manifestly tall, stout or highly branched .............2

2(1) Corolla blood-red, with a darker eye ring or star, the color persisting as maroon in dried specimen .............................

................................................................................................................................................3b. subsp. wilcoxiana

2. Corolla purple or purple-pink, fading (usually to bluish) on drying ...............................................................................3

3(2) Eye marked with a dark star or ring ......................................................................................3c. subsp. drummondii

3. Eye pale and marked with a slender-armed purple star ...........................................................3d. subsp. mcallisteri

3a. var. peregrina Shinners. Plants tall, stout-stemmed, and well-branched; larger leaves ca. 5 times longer than wide. Corolla tube ca. 15 mm long; corolla color quite variable in any population--red white, pink, purple, pale yellow, etc., often marked with a variously colored eye ring or star--and sometimes monstrosities (e.g., flowers with extra petals) present; quite striking in large groups. A cultivated strain which is supposed to be a hybrid between subsp. drummondii and subsp. wilcoxiana. Planted in gardens and along roadsides and now escaped and naturalized in many places in TX and in warm temperate parts of the world. Often growing in the same area and under the same conditions as subsp. drummondii. [Included by Kartesz (1998) under subsp. drummondii.]

3b. subsp. wilcoxiana (Bogusch) Wherry Goldsmith Phlox. Plants not markedly tall, stout, or well-branched; major leaves 5 to 10 (ave.= 7) times longer than wide. Sepals 8 to 11 mm long; corolla tube 15 to 17 mm long, pilose, limb intense blood red with a darker eye ring or star, the color preserved in dried specimens as maroon. Native to an area bounded by Milam, Jackson, Goliad, and Comal Cos. [P. drummondii Hook. var. wilcoxiana (Bogusch) Whiteh. Some sources (e.g. Correll & Johnston 1970) list P. goldsmithii Whiteh. as a synonym.]

3c. subsp. drummondii Drummond Phlox Plants not obviously stout, tall, or well-branched; major leaves 5 to 10 (ave. = 7) times longer than wide. Sepals 7 to 10 (ave. = 8.5) mm long; corolla tube 12 to 16 mm long, pilose, limb purple-pink, with a dark eye ring or star, drying bluish. S. Cen. TX, S. of a Brazos-Guadalupe Co. line, S. to San Patricio, Jackson, Austin, and Harris Cos. Common in our area. [Some sources (e.g. Kartesz 1998), cite P. goldsmithii Whiteh. as a synonym.]

3d. subsp. mcallisteri (Whiteh.) Wherry Plants not markedly tall, stout, or bushy; herbage not or only sparsely glandular; major leaves 4 to 5 times longer than wide. Pedicels to 15 mm long. Sepals 8 to 11 mm long; corolla tube 13 to 15 mm long, limb light purple to light purple-pink, with a pale eye bearing a narrow-rayed purple star, fading on drying. Primarily in NE. TX, W. to Wichita Co. and S. to Leon Co. [P. drummondii Hook. var. mcallisteri (Whiteh.) Shinners].

Annuals, biennials, perennials (some monocarpic), or subshrubs. Basal leaves usually in a rosette, stem leaves alternate, reduced upwards, entire or pinnately (as in ours) or palmately lobed or dissected, the ultimate segments linear to slenderly oblong, cuspidate to bristle-like, often firm and sharp. Flowers terminal or axillary, solitary or in cymose groups arranged in a dense to loose, corymbose, capitate, thyrsoid, or paniculate inflorescence, each flower usually subtended by a bract, bracts commonly pinnatifid. Sepals equal to subequal, partially united by scarious membranes, acute to acuminate, often sharp-pointed. Corolla regular or slightly irregular, usually essentially salverform, the 5 lobes shorter than the tube, red (as in ours) to pink, lavender, or white, sometimes spotted. Stamens included or exserted, attached unevenly in the corolla tube or in the sinuses between the lobes. Style exserted or included, stigma with 3 lobes; ovules 2 to many per locule. Capsule ovoid to oblong. Seeds usually elongate and angled, rarely ovoid, waxy or weakly viscid or mucilaginous when wet.

24 species of W. N. Amer. and FL; 1 in S. Amer.; 9 in TX; 1 here.

Some are cultivated for ornament.

1. I. rubra (L.) Wherry Standing Cypress, Texas Plume. Biennial from a branched root or taproot; stem single, erect, 1 to 2 m tall, sparsely pubescent, eglandular. Basal leaves in a definite rosette (but often withered by flowering time), cauline leaves finely pinnately divided, 4 to 8 cm long, with 10 to 15 linear-filiform segments 5 to 20 mm long and cuspidate, midrib sparsely pubescent. Flowers held horizontally, in small clusters in an elongate thyrse. Sepals 8 to 9 mm long, united for ca. 3 to 4 mm, the scarious membranes glabrous, the lobes broadly subulate, attenuate, with an awn-like tip, sparsely pubescent; corolla bright scarlet red, the tube stout, only slightly flared, 2 to 2. 5 cm long, lobes ca. 9 to 11 mm long, 4 to 6 mm broad, ovate to elliptic, obtuse to nearly acute, often with white or pale pink spots; stamens exserted, unequal, the lower 3 about 1 to 3 mm longer than the upper 2; style exserted, ovary ovoid. Capsule oblong, 8 to 10 mm long; seeds 10 to 12 per locule, the seed coat swelling when wet but little if at all viscid. Sun or partial shade in dry rocky or sandy soils. Cen. and E. TX; TX to FL, N. to NC and OK. About Apr.-July. [Gilia rubra (L.) Heller; G. coronopifolia Pers.].

This is an extremely striking plant in flower. It is quite worthy of cultivation and is especially suited for borders.

Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, sometimes suffrutescent. Leaves basal and/or alternate, cauline leaves well-developed or greatly reduced, blades pinnately toothed or incised, pinnatifid, or dissected, the segments thin and herbaceous to acerose, apically cuspidate to rather spiny; petioles either long and slender, short and winged, or absent. Flowers solitary, in uneven pairs, or in small, bracted clusters at the ends of the branches and forming a paniculate inflorescence. Calyx with 5 equal or subequal lobes, these acute to cuspidate, herbaceous, connected by scarious membranes. Corolla rotate to nearly salverform, blue-violet (as in ours) to white or lavender, the throat often yellow or paler. Stamens equal to rather unequal, exserted (as in ours) or included. Style exserted (at least in ours); stigma lobes 3. Capsule oblong to ovoid. Seeds few to several per locule, mucilaginous when wet.

About 25 species of the W. hemisphere, most common in W. N. Amer.; 7 in TX; 1 here. Many species formerly in Gilia have been removed to other genera, including Ipomopsis.

The flowers of some, especially some of the annual species, are showy enough that the plants are cultivated for ornament (Mabberley 1987).

1. G. rigidula Benth. Perennial, somewhat suffrutescent at the base, though often not large and sometimes flowering the first year, 8 to 25(40) cm tall; herbage glandular-puberulent. Leaves deeply pinnatifid to pinnately dissected, 6 to 20(25) mm long, with 2 to 7 segments, the segments 2 to 12 mm long, very narrow and acerose (spine-like) to flat and linear to oblong and cuspidate. Flowers solitary or in loose clusters; peduncles to ca. 25 mm long and the bracts linear to trifid. Calyx ca. 5 to 9 mm long, cylindric to ovoid, the tube 2 to 4(5) mm long at anthesis, sepals united to about or below the middle, the uniting scarious membranes present also as thin margins on the lobes, lobes obscurely awned; corolla rotate, intense blue-violet to purple, throat often yellow, ca. 8 to 25 mm across, open in the sunlight; stamens ca. 5 to 7 mm long, exserted, anthers commonly sagittate; stigmas usually exceeding the anthers. Capsule 3 to 5 mm long; seeds many, small. Dry rocky and sandy soils. Primarily in the W. 1/2 of TX; CO, NE, and KS, S. to OK, TX, NM, AZ and Mex. Spring, sometimes again in the fall. Included here on the basis of one collection from Brazos Co. in 1981 (TAMU 11745). (Over)

There is rather a lot of variation in stature, pubescence, flower size and width of leaf segments. Some sources recognize subspecies (e.g. Correll & Johnston 1970; Kartesz 1998), while others do not (e.g. GPFA 1986). If subspecific taxa are recognized, our plant is probably subsp. rigidula--Plants to 25 cm tall; lower leaves to 2.5 cm long, unevenly dissected into a few, flat, oblong, often dentate divisions; upper leaves with linear or filiform divisions, only slightly acerose; sepals 5 to 7 mm long, united about halfway; corolla 8 to 15 mm across; stamens 5 to 7 mm long. W. 1/2 TX; TX to CO an AZ, S. to N. Mex. Spring, sometimes again in the fall. [If subspecies are not recognized, the species includes subsp. rigidula, subsp. acerosa (Gray) Wherry, and subsp. insignis Brand and synonyms include G. acerosa A. Gray, G. insignis (Brand) Cory & Parks, and Giliastrum acerosum (A. Gray) Rydb.].

Ours annual, biennial, or perennial herbs. Herbage glabrous to pubescent and/or glandular. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple and entire to pinnately lobed or compound, margins often toothed; stipules none. Flowers perfect, regular, in ours 5-merous, sessile or pedicellate, rarely solitary, usually in simple or compound, often scorpioid cymes. Calyx lobes united only at the very base, herbaceous, sometimes accrescent, sometimes appendages present between the lobes. Corolla sympetalous, usually campanulate, sometimes rotate to funnelform (or tubular), in ours usually white or some shade of blue or purple. Stamens 5, equal or unequal, attached at the base of the short corolla tube, alternate with the corolla lobes, included or exserted, commonly with a small scale or gland on either side of the base of each filament. Ovary superior (rarely inferior, and not in ours), unilocular or sometimes appearing partially or wholly bilocular because of intrusion of the parietal placentae; style usually 1, included or exserted, with 2 stigma lobes or cleft nearly to the base, in some taxa styles 2 and separate. Capsule loculicidally to septicidally dehiscent by 2 or 4 valves. Seeds 1 to 20 per cell, smooth to corrugated, pitted, or alveolate.

20 genera and 275 species nearly worldwide (except Australia), especially common in W. N. Amer.; 6 genera and 33 species in TX; 4 genera and 10 species here.

Some taxa are cultivated ornamentals (Mabberley 1987).

Annual or perennial herbs, usually of marshes, ditches, streambeds, or other wet areas, usually with axillary spines. Leaves entire, alternate or sometimes opposite below and alternate above. Flowers in axillary or terminal cymes or corymbs. Calyx unappendaged, persistent but not conspicuously accrescent. Corolla rotate-campanulate, as long as or longer than the calyx, usually blue, rarely white. Stamens included or exserted, without scales at the base, but the bases dilated. Styles 2(3), completely separate. Capsule globose or ovoid, commonly irregularly dehiscent, with many very small striate or rugose seeds.

20 species, primarily of the tropics; 3 in TX; 1 here.

1. H. ovata Nutt. ex Choisy Hairy Hydrolea. Perennial from a rhizome; stem usually simple below, branched above, pubescent or hirtellous, or sometimes the lower portion becoming glabrate with age. Leaves alternate, very short-petiolate, the blades ovate, (1.5)3 to 6 cm long, (1)1.5 to 2.5 cm broad, acute, entire, minutely pubescent; axillary spines slender, straight, to 1.5 cm long. Flowers showy, ca. 1.5 to 2.5 cm across, in terminal cymes with leafy bracts, aggregated into a somewhat paniculate inflorescence; pedicels slender, pubescent, about equalling the calyx or slightly longer. Calyx shorter than the corolla, hirsute and with longer, slender glandular hairs, the lobes lanceolate, about equal, acuminate; corolla intense blue, deeply divided, the lobes 10 to 14 mm long; stamens exserted, commonly tinged with blue, pollen white; ovary and lower portion of styles glandular-pubescent, upper part of styles glabrous, styles exserted. Capsule globose-ovoid, glandular, short-beaked, enfolded by the calyx. Margins of ponds, streams, stock tanks, ditches, etc. E. and SE. TX; GA to LA and TX, N. to MO and AR. June-Oct. [Nama ovatum (Nutt. ex Choisy) Britt.].

TX material annual or perennial herbs, commonly low and well-branched, pubescent. Leaves alternate, simple, entire to sinuate, not much reduced above. Flowers subsessile, solitary in the axils or in small, terminal, non-scorpioid cymes. Calyx divided to near the base, without appendages, not much accrescent in age. Corolla purple or violet to white, funnelform to campanulate or rarely tubular, usually longer than the calyx. Stamens included, unequal, unequally inserted in the corolla tube, base of each filament dilated or with minute appendages. Ovary ovoid to globose, unilocular, but the placentae commonly intruded and placentation appearing axile; style 1, shallowly to deeply bifid. Capsule with many minute, usually reticulate or sometimes shallowly pitted seeds.

45 species of the SW U.S. and tropical America, with 1 in Hawaii; 12 in TX; 2 here.

1. Leaf blades spatulate to obovate, flat, decurrent on the stem and forming wings ..................

This is a highly variable species as to habit, leaf shape, and pubescence. Varieties which were formerly recognized are now known to intergrade; nor can they be separated geographically (GPFA 1986).

Annual herbs. Leaves alternate, oblong to orbicular, pinnately lobed or divided. Flowers solitary or several in loose, non-scorpioid cymes. Calyx deeply divided, the 5 lobes alternating with 5 smaller auriculate appendages, often accrescent in fruit. Corolla either large and blue to purplish or small and white. Stamens included, the base of each filament flanked by a pair of scales. Style divided to about the middle. Capsule globose, with 1 to 4 seeds. Seeds subglobose-ovoid, pitted, with a small elaiosome.

11 species, 9 of W. and 2 of SE. N. Amer.; 2 in TX, both here.

Several species are cultivated for ornament, including N. maculata, Five-spot, which has a white corolla tipped with blue.

1. Corolla blue or purplish, 1 to 3 cm broad; calyx in fruit equaling or longer than the sepals;

terminal flowers often in cymes................................................................. 1. N. phacelioides

1. Corolla white, to 5 mm broad; calyx in fruit shorter than the sepals; all flowers solitary.........

Taprooted annual, biennial, or perennial herbs. Stems erect to decumbent, simple or well-branched. Herbage glabrous to pubescent or glandular-pubescent. Leaves primarily alternate, sometimes also basal, petiolate to sessile, entire to pinnately lobed, pinnatifid, or pinnately dissected. Inflorescences terminal or subterminal single to compound scorpioid cymes, the flowers pedicellate to nearly sessile. Calyx lobed to near the base, appendages none, lobes linear to lanceolate, accrescent in fruit or not. Corolla blue to purple, lavender, or white, rotate to campanulate (as in ours) or tubular, usually longer than the calyx. Stamens equal or nearly so, included or exserted, attached near the base of the corolla tube, bases pubescent and flanked by either a pair or scales or a gland bordered by parallel flaps or filament bases merely dilated, anthers turning inside out at maturity. Ovary globose-ovoid, unilocular, style 1, included or exserted, shallowly bifid to divided for 1/3 to 3/4 its length. Capsule globose-ovoid. Seeds 2 to many, oblong to globose, rounded or flattened, pitted or cross-wrinkled, sometimes ridged.

150 species, mostly of W. N. Amer., some in the E. U.S. and S. Amer.; 15 in TX; 5 here.

The genus includes many taxa cultivated for their flowers (Mabberley 1987).

The small flowers are not individually showy, but a solid patch of this plant is quite lovely.

This is a highly variable species. Constance (1949) described 4 varieties, which are still recognized by Hatch, et al. (1990) and Kartesz (1998). Some sources, however, (e.g., GPFA 1986) contend that the 4 varieties are sympatric and intergrade too much to be recognized. If varieties are recognized, our plants are probably assignable to the following three:

var. strictiflora Prairie Phacelia. Stem spreading-hirsute, inflorescence loosely hirsute; foliage dull green, not succulent; basal rosette usually withering early, the leaves pubescent beneath, lobed or divided; cauline leaves lobed to almost pinnatifid; calyces all alike in fruit. Cen.-E. TX.

var. connexa Const. Similar to var. strictiflora, but the stems finely strigose, inflorescence canescent; calyx lobes linear to lance-linear. NE. TX and adjacent OK.; especially common in fallow fields.

var. lundelliana Const. Foliage bright green, slightly succulent; basal rosette persistent, the leaves glabrous beneath and shallowly toothed; cauline leaves broad and shallowly toothed; calyces of lower flowers of cymes markedly accrescent. W. OK and N. Cen. TX, S. to about Waco.

Three varieties are recognized by Moyer and Turner (1994). Our plants are probably all var. patuliflora, Sand Phacelia. Branches mostly decumbent rather than ascending; calyx lobes obtuse; corolla pale lavender to violet; fruiting pedicels spreading to reflexed. Cen. and SE. TX and Rio Grande Valley and Plains and adj. Mex.

Ours annual, biennial, or perennial herbs (elsewhere also shrubs and trees). Stems and leaves often bristly-pubescent or hairy, rarely glabrous. Leaves alternate or basal and alternate, simple, usually petiolate, estipulate. Flowers perfect, usually regular, in ours 5-merous, solitary or more usually in solitary or grouped cymose inflorescences, these commonly one-sided and coiled (scorpioid), with or without bracts between, beside, or opposite the flowers, the inflorescence uncoiling and elongating with age and sometimes appearing racemose in fruit. Sepals 5, free or fused, equal or unequal, usually pubescent, occasionally glabrous, persistent. Corolla sympetalous, primarily salverform or funnelform, often with folds or appendages (fornices) in the upper throat opposite the lobes, lobes rounded to pointed, small appendages present inside the base of the tube. Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube alternate the lobes, commonly included. Nectary disk sometimes present subtending the ovary. Gynoecium superior, in ours with 2 united carpels, usually 4-ovulate and developing into 4 single-seeded lobes or 1 carpel suppressed and the remaining carpel developing into 2 single-seeded lobes or sometimes (as in Heliotropium) the gynoecium essentially unlobed; style 1, arising from between the lobes (gynobasic) or sometimes terminal (as in Heliotropium); in taxa outside our area, other gynoecium variations occur; a low to pyramidal or columnar receptacle (gynobase) often prominent, particularly in fruit. Fruits in our species mericarp-like nutlets, usually separating from each other and falling individually, their surfaces varying in pubescence and ornament. Seeds with scanty or no endosperm.

About 154 genera and 2,500 species worldwide; 18 genera and 73 species in TX; 8 genera and 16 species here. A useful reference for descriptions and family distributions is the work of I. M. Johnston (1964).

In the Boraginaceae, subfamily and generic classifications are based on features of the mature gynoecium. Confident identification to species is also greatly facilitated by the presence of mature fruit.

The family has a number of important ornamental genera, including Myosotis (Forget-me-not), Heliotropium (Heliotrope), Echium, Anchusa, and so on. Some of the woody taxa (e.g. Cordia) provide timber. Some taxa are dye plants (e.g. Alkanna) and some are potherbs or have medicinal value (e.g. Symphytum--Comfrey and Borago--Borage) (Mabberley 1987).

Ours annual or perennial herbs, sometimes somewhat suffrutescent, usually branched, erect to prostrate. Leaves all cauline, sessile to petiolate, variously shaped, linear to deltoid or ovate, glabrous or more commonly pubescent. Flowers usually in definite scorpioid cymes (except H. tenellum with flowers apparently solitary or few in the upper axils), with or without bracts, cymes becoming elongate and spike-like with age. Calyx deeply lobed or the sepals essentially free, equal or unequal, glabrous to variously pubescent. Corolla funnelform to salverform, blue to white, yellow, or purple, without appendages in the throat, but commonly pubescent within. Filaments very short and stamens included. Style 1, terminal on the ovary but sometimes so short that the stigma appears sessile; stigma conic, flattened, bifid, or capitate, mostly sterile and receptive only in a ring around the base. Fruit splitting into 4, 1-seeded nutlets or 2, 2-seeded nutlets.

About 250 species of temperate to tropical regions; 15 species in TX; 7 to be expected here.

The genus includes several popular ornamentals, including H. amplexicaule and H. arborescens, the latter cherry-scented and also used in perfumes. Other species are used in herbal remedies in their native regions (Mabberley 1987).

This plant is grown for its ornamental flowers. It also has some use in fertility-regulating medicines (Mabberley 1987).

Included here on the basis of several very old collections from Brazos Co. (H. B. Parks, s.n., Jan, 1949, TAES 151680-151682). Probably either not a permanent member of our flora or only sporadic.

Annual or perennial herbs. Herbage glabrous to strigose. Leaves alternate, basal leaves (if any) petiolate, stem leaves sessile. Cymes produced at the branch tips and solitary in the upper axils, slender, uncoiling and elongating to appear raceme-like, with or without bracts; mature pedicels spreading or ascending. Calyx divided equally or unequally to below the middle, in ours the lobes lanceolate or triangular, strigose to hirsute, in our species with few or many uncinate (hooked) hairs. Corolla white or slightly bluish (in other species also blue or rose), small, less than 4 mm long, salverform to nearly funnelform, with a short tube, the lobes convolute or contorted in bud, rounded, throat appendages (fornices) prominent. Stamens included or exserted. Style included, stigma disk-shaped. Ovary 4-ovulate. Nutlets 4, ovoid-elliptic, attached to the flat or high gynobase by a basal-lateral scar, smooth and shiny, sharply keeled all the way around.

50 species of temperate regions; 2 in TX; both here.

Several of the blue-flowered species, especially M. sylvatica and M. scorpioides, are cultivated for their small but pretty flowers (Mabberley 1987).

NOTE: The following two species are recognized by Hatch, et al. (1990) and by Kartesz (1998). However, as pointed out by Steyermark (1963), the characters traditionally used to distinguish these taxa overlap in every particular. The extremes in variation are easily recognizable, but many specimens fall somewhere in between. These two may someday be proven to belong to one highly variable species.

1. Fruiting calyces 4 to 7 mm long, closely spaced, ca. 1 cm or less apart,

Biennial or perennial (rarely annual) herb. Leaves alternate, basal and/or cauline, basal and lower ones petiolate, the upper sessile. Cymes solitary or grouped at the stem tips, bractless or bracted only at the base, scorpioid and coiling when young, elongating and rather raceme-like in fruit, flowers short-pediceled. Calyx lobed to below the middle, sepals equal, somewhat enlarged in fruit, spreading or reflexed. Corolla cylindrical or funnelform, white, blue, purple-red, or lilac, the lobes broadly rounded, imbricate in bud, commonly overlapping at the edges, throat with prominent, trapezoidal, oblong, or subulate appendages. Anthers included or slightly exserted. Style gynobasic (not always obviously so in developing ovaries), ovules 4. Nutlets (1 to) 4, rather divergent from the convex to pyramidal gynobase, attached with a small or large medial to apical scar (but sometimes appearing attached basally), the surface usually densely covered with glochidiate hairs, sometimes

with an elevated margin and often with a free, subulate portion appressed to the style and obscuring it.

About 55 species of temperate and warm regions; 2 in TX; 1 uncommon here.

A few species have ornamental or medicinal uses (Mabberley 1987).

1. C. virginianum L. Blue Hound's Tongue, Wild Comfrey. Perennial from a large root; stem erect, unbranched, 3 to 8 dm tall, stem and herbage conspicuously spreading-hirsute. Basal leaves with blades elliptic-oblong, 10 to 20 cm long, tapered at the base and decurrent on long petioles, stem leaves sessile, some definitely clasping, some narrowed below and abruptly expanded at the base, leaves progressively smaller upwards. Cymes (1)3(4) at the tip of the stem, 10 to 20 cm long at maturity. Calyx at anthesis 3 to 4 mm long, with lobes expanding to 2.5 mm long in fruit; corolla white to light blue, 8 to 12(16) mm broad, the tube 1.5 to 3 mm long, lobes to ca. 4 mm long, overlapping and the sinuses closed. Fruiting pedicels 5 to 15 mm long, recurved. Nutlets 4, ca. 5 to 7 mm long, uniformly bristly except for the attachment scar, without a raised margin; style 1 to 2 mm long, obscured by the nutlets. Usually in upland deciduous woods, but known from near a bog in Leon Co. Que. and N. B. to CT and NY, S. to FL, W. to B.C., MN, and TX. Mar.-Apr.

Kartesz (1998) lists 2 varieties. If varieties are recognized, our plants are probably var. virginianum.

NOTE: The Asian species C. zeylanicum (Vahl) Thunb. ex Lehm., Ceylon Hound's Tongue, is sporadically introduced in E. TX. It may someday be found here. It is a perennial with appressed, silky hairs, tawny-haired cymes, corolla only 4 to 5 mm long, and nutlets 2.5 to 4 mm long.

Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, sometimes suffruticose. Stems 1 to several. Herbage usually with dense, conspicuous, stiff pubescence, sometimes the hairs with pustule-like, silicified bases. Leaves basal and/or cauline, sometimes opposite below, alternate above, sessile or the lower petiolate, usually without apparent lateral veins, reduced upwards and grading into the bracts of the inflorescence. Cymes single or paired at each branch tip, dense and definitely coiled when young, elongating and becoming spike- or raceme-like, occasionally grouped to form a thyrse- or panicle-like inflorescence; bracts present or absent, sometimes present only below, easiest to see in the elongated cymes; flowers sessile or shortly pediceled. Calyx divided almost completely, the lobes equal, erect or connivent, linear to lanceolate or oblong, with hairs inside and out, persistent and closely investing the nutlets at maturity. Corolla tiny or conspicuous, but seldom truly showy, salverform to funnelform, usually with a shortly cylindrical tube, with or without scales inside at the base, limb commonly white, with appendages (fornices) in the sometimes-yellow throat, lobes imbricate in bud, rounded. Stamens attached in the corolla tube below the middle, filaments very short. Ovary deeply 4-lobed, style gynobasic, stigma capitate, ovules 2 to 4. Nutlets 4 or else 1 to 3 (by abortion), dissimilar or all alike, erect, ovate to triangular, often angled, attached for most of the ventral length to the usually columnar, pyramidal, or subulate gynobase, the ventral attachment scar usually a groove forked at the bottom and open or closed at the base or sometimes a triangular opening, outer surface smooth to roughened, with or without a margin.

About 100 species of W. N. Amer.; 15 in TX; apparently only 1 here.

Some species provide forage for sheep (Correll & Johnston 1970).

Positive identification requires mature nutlets.

1. C. mexicana (Brandeg.) I. M. Johnst. Mexican Cryptantha. Taprooted annual; stems several to many from the base, repeatedly dichotomous, branches low, spreading or sometimes erect, 5 to 20 cm tall; herbage hispid and sometimes also sparsely strigose. Leaves oblong-lanceolate to slenderly oblong, to 4.5 cm long and 6 m broad, gradually reduced upwards, obtuse to acute, hispid, the spreading hairs from disk-like mineralized bases. Stems floriferous to below the middle, often even to the base, cymes many, definitely coiled, to 15 cm long, densely or loosely flowered, with many obvious bracts, pubescence of unexpanded tips often pale yellowish, at least when dry. Calyx at anthesis to 2.5 mm long, lobes lanceolate, enlarging to 4 mm long and 2.5 mm broad at maturity and becoming broadly ovoid, eventually deciduous; corolla small, 2 to 2.5 mm long, white, the lobes ascending, apically rounded, appendages in throat puberulent, ca. 2 mm tall, trapezoid-shaped. Nutlets 4, triangular-ovate, to 1.3 mm long and 0.9 mm wide, all alike but sometimes the abaxial one more firmly attached, ventral surface with a large triangular open area representing the attachment scar, surface covered with coarse, low, rounded warts. Usually in caliche or limestone-based soils of the Trans Pecos, E. to Howard, Tom Green, Edwards, McMullen, and Cameron Cos.; TX, S. into N. Mex.; common along highways and possibly expanding its range. Apr.-June. [In the past, confused with C. albida (H.B.K.) I. M. Johnst. and not distinguished from it. Old, mislabeled specimens may exist.].

Included here on the bases of one specimen (TAES 46829) collected in Brazos Co. by H. B. Parks. It was identified as C. texana (A. DC.) Greene but has the nutlets characteristic of C. mexicana. C. texana is found in S. TX N. to Bastrop Co. and with an outlying population in Somervell Co. It is possible this species too may be found here. It can be distinguished from C. mexicana by inflorescence without bracts; nutlet surface with many minute warts, ventral surface with a vertical groove divided at the bottom.

Taprooted annuals. Stem simple or branched. Herbage usually bristly-hispid. Leaves basal and cauline, the rosette leaves sometimes short-lived, stem leaves alternate, linear to ovate, smaller than the basal leaves, usually without obvious veins, hairs often with pustule-like bases. Cymes terminal on the branches and in the axils of the upper leaves, strongly coiled when young, elongating with age, without bracts or with a few bracts in the lower portion; pedicels very short. Calyx lobed nearly to the base, the lobes in ours erect, lanceolate to oblong. Corolla tubular to salverform, yellow to orange and the throat sometimes marked in red, tube cylindrical, glabrous, without appendages inside at the base, lobes imbricate in bud, spreading, throat appendages absent (as in ours) to well-developed, if present then closing the throat. Stamens included, attached near the mouth of the tube or farther down, filaments short. Style filiform, included, stigma capitate, emarginate, included; ovules 4. Nutlets 4, ovoid-trigonous, strongly keeled on the ventral surface, the small attachment scar near the base of the ventral side raised and somewhat caruncle-like; gynobase pyramidal, about half as tall as the nutlets; cotyledons each 2-parted.

About 50 species of W. N. Amer.; 3 in TX (Hatch, et al. 1990); 1 known from our area.

1. A. menziesii (Lehm.) A. Nels. & J. Macbr. Smallflower Fiddleneck. Stem simple or branched form the base, branches usually decumbent, 1.5 to 7 dm tall; herbage with spreading bristly-hispid hairs and little or no finer appressed pubescence except sometimes in the inflorescence. Leaves usually not providing a basal rosette, oblong or broadly linear or the upper ones sometimes elliptic or even lanceolate (rarely ovate), 4 to 10(12) cm long, to 2 cm broad, bristly pubescent with mostly pustule-based hairs. Cymes with no bracts or with only a few at the base, elongating greatly in fruit. Sepals nearly entirely free, 5 to 10 mm long in fruit, the lobes slenderly to widely lanceolate, obtuse bristly pubescence sometimes reflexed in the lower portion; corolla light yellow with no red markings, 4 to 7 mm long, the tube slightly or not exserted from the calyx, limb 1 to 3 mm broad, lobes tiny; stamens inserted just at the apex of the tube. Nutlets triangular-ovoid, green to gray, brown, or black, 2 to 3.5(5) mm long, the dorsal and lateral ridges strongly toothed, ventral attachment scar slightly elevated, ovate to rounded, ca. 1 mm long, surface tuberculate to muricate, often rugose. Grasslands and dry areas of Cen. TX; AK to CA and NE, E. to ID, UT, and as far E. as TX; introduced eastward outside the home range. Mar.-May. [A. micrantha Suksd.; A. idahoensis M. E. Jones; Echium menziesii Lehm. Kartesz (1998) lists this species and A. intermedia Fisch. & Mey. combined under A. menziesii.].

Included here on the basis of a specimen found as a weed in a clover field on the A&M campus in 1946. (TAES 59450); quite possibly not a persistent member of our flora.

Taprooted perennial herbs. Stems branched. Herbage hispid-hirsute. Leaves primarily cauline, alternate, entire, with the midvein and laterals quite obvious beneath. Cymes terminal, with leafy bracts, coiled when young, elongating and becoming racemose with age, the flowers sessile or with short pedicels. Calyx deeply 5-lobed, shorter than the corolla, the lobes sometimes unequal. Corolla white, greenish white, or pale yellow, tubular to funnelform, externally pubescent, glabrous within, lobes erect, acute to acuminate, the sinuses thickened and inflexed. Stamens included, filaments very short, anthers sagittate, included but barely so--about reaching the corolla sinuses, dehiscing before the corolla is mature. Ovary 4-lobed, style filiform, conspicuously exserted, persistent. Nutlets usually only 1 or 2 at maturity, ovoid, smooth to pitted, white (as in ours) to brownish-white, basally attached to an almost flat gynobase, the attachment scar relatively small.

About 15 species of N. Amer; 4 species listed for TX (Hatch, et al. 1990), but three of these treated as subspecies of a single species by Kartesz (1998) and other sources (e.g., Gleason and Cronquist 1963; GPFA 1986). It does seem easiest to "lump" our plants together, otherwise specific determination is difficult and dependent upon having an absolutely perfect and complete specimen at the right stage of development.

NOTE: The other species found in TX, O. helleri Small, is reported from the Post Oak Savannah and Blackland Prairies by Hatch, et al. (1990). However, it seems to be confined to the Edwards Plateau and extreme central portion of the state.

1. O. molle Michx. Stems solitary or several, 3 to 12 dm tall, branched above or below. Hairs of 2 sorts--erect or spreading bristles and softer, appressed pubescence. Basal rosette leaves persistent or not, cauline laves sessile, lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, 5 to 13 cm long, 1 to 3 cm broad, with 5 to 7 nerves prominent below; . Cymes simple or forked. Sepals linear-lanceolate, linear-oblong, or lanceolate, 3.5 to 12 mm long, hirsute externally, strigose within; corolla nearly tubular, 7 to 18(20) mm long, with erect, pointed, greenish lobes. Nutlets 1 to 4, sometimes constricted near the base, smooth or pitted, white or brownish. Throughout much of TX except the Pineywoods, Trans Pecos, and High Plains; S. Ont. and NY to MN, S. to NC, LA, and TX, S. to NE, NM, and UT Apr.-June.

5 subspecies; 3 reported from TX; 2 here.

subsp. bejariense (DC. ex A. DC.) Cochrane Bejar Marbleseed. Stem usually solitary, 6 to 9 dm tall, branched above, the branches ascending, whitish hispid-pubescent and the branches also softly appressed- pubescent. Basal leaves persistent (usually withered) until anthesis, leaves lanceolate or the lower ones oblanceolate-spatulate, the largest leaves to 13 cm long and 1.4 cm wide. Calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 8 to 10 mm long, acute, appressed pubescent and the base long-ciliate; larger corollas 14 mm long, very finely pubescent externally or appearing glabrous, lobes 3 to 4 mm long, triangular, long-acuminate, sometimes bent, with a few spreading hairs apically. Nutlets ca. 3 mm long, obtuse to acute, slightly to strongly constricted at the base. Dry open woods and hillsides. E. TX, W. to Tom Green and Uvalde Cos., E. to Gonzales and Cherokee Cos.; endemic. Mar.-June; collected in fruit in the fall. [O. bejariense DC. ex A. DC.; O. molle Michx. var. bejariense (DC. ex A. DC.) Cronq.].

subsp. occidentale (Mack.) Cochrane Western Marbleseed. Stems usually several in a tuft from the base, 3 to 6 dm tall (rarely taller), branched above or often from near the base, branches spreading to suberect; herbage with silvery-white or sometimes yellowish appressed to spreading pubescence usually less than 2 mm long, pubescence of branches usually appressed. Basal leaves usually not persisting, cauline leaves usually ca. 5 cm long, 1.5 cm broad, acutish, pubescence usually soft, appressed, and little if at all papillose, but sometimes (usually N. of TX) the hairs spreading and with papillose bases. Bracts 6 to 24 mm long, similar to the leaves, oaten 2-ranked; pedicels in fruit to ca. 6 mm long. Calyx lobes 6 to 12 mm long, lanceolate and acute to more or less obtuse, rarely linear-oblong, canescent, hairs somewhat spreading; corolla 11 to 20 mm long, canescent externally, lobes 3 to 4 mm long, broadly triangular, a tuft of hairs at the apex of each lobe inconspicuous. Nutlets 3.5 to 4 mm long, more or less acute, not constricted at the base, scarcely if at all pitted, dull. Prairies, rock woods, bottomlands, and hillsides. NE. and N. Cen. TX, S. to Bexar, Victoria, and Jackson Cos.; IL to Man. and Sask., S. to NM, UT, and TX. Apr.-June. [O. occidentale Mack.; O. molle Michx. var. occidentale (Mack.) I. M. Johnst.].

Annual or perennial herbs (as ours), some (not ours) somewhat shrubby. Herbage variously pubescent. Leaves basal and cauline, sessile, variously linear to ovate. Flowers in leafy-bracted scorpioid cymes or solitary in the axils of the upper leaves, in ours yellow, in other species also white or violet, sometimes heterostylous or plants producing cleistogamous flowers. Calyx divided nearly all the way, lobes narrow. Corolla longer than the calyx, salverform to tubular or funnelform, the lobes imbricate in bud, spreading at anthesis, throat with appendages, pubescent patches, or glandular areas. Stamens inserted on the corolla tube, filaments short, anthers included or slightly exserted, usually with apiculate connectives. Style filiform, stigmas paired, ovules 4. Nutlets 4 or rarely fewer, in some species the showy chasmogamous blossoms essentially sterile and nutlets produced almost entirely by late-season cleistogamous flowers, each nutlet erect, ovoid or angled, with a broad basal attachment scar, the surface usually white or whitish, porcelain-like and very hard, smooth, roughened, or warty; gynobase flat to very broadly pyramidal.

About 40 species of N. Amer. and another 20 in the E. hemisphere; 10 in TX; 2 here.

Some taxa are dye plants or ornamentals. Others have medicinal uses (Mabberley 1987). Native Americans used the roots of Texas species as a source of purple dye (Correll & Johnston 1970). The outer layer of the root is so full of dye that specimens often stain the herbarium paper on which they are mounted.

1. Largest leaves at midstem and the lowermost very reduced; corolla yellow-orange .............

Hatch, et al. (1990) did not recognize varieties, but Kartesz (1998) does. If varieties are recognized, it is assumed that ours are var. caroliniense.

About 15 species native to Eurasia; 1 species widely introduced/naturalized in the U.S.; present in our area.

Sometimes included in Lithospermum.

1. B. arvensis (L.) I. M. Johnst. Taprooted annual; stems 2 to 7 dm tall, usually shorter, simple or with a few branches above; herbage pale-strigose. Leaves 2 to 5 cm long, 2 to 10 mm wide, the basal leaves in a rosette, commonly absent or withered by flowering time, oblanceolate to spatulate, cauline leaves lanceolate or linear and acute to obtuse, only the midrib obvious below. Cymes racemose, with leafy bracts so that the flowers appear solitary in the axils of the upper leaves; pedicels ca. 1 mm long. Calyx lobes subulate to linear, hispid, in fruit the lobes erect, ascending, 8 to 13 mm long and the short tube becoming pale and somewhat papery; corolla white to blue, purple, or yellow, 5 to 8 mm long, scarcely exserted from the calyx, limb to 4 mm across, gradually expanded, puberulent, without appendages, lobes ascending, ovate and obtuse. Nutlets light brownish-gray ca. 3 mm long, trigonous-ovoid, with a prominent ventral keel, rugose, tuberculate, rough, or pitted, basal attachment scar broad. Open

woods, fields, waste places, etc., commonly in sandy soil. E. 1/2 TX; native of Eurasia, introduced in the U.S., Afr., Asia, and S. Amer. Feb.-June. [Lithospermum arvense L.].

Ours herbs, shrubs, and small trees (elsewhere also larger trees and woody vines). Stems and branches often quadrangular. Herbage glabrous to variously pubescent. Leaves usually opposite, simple or palmately compound, deciduous, estipulate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary spikes, heads, cymes, panicles, etc., often subtended by involucral bracts, individual flowers often subtended by bractlets. Flowers pedicellate or sessile, usually perfect (sometimes imperfect or plants polygamous), hypogynous, usually slightly to strongly irregular. Calyx of (4)5 sepals united at least basally, sometimes zygomorphic, tubular to campanulate or salverform, commonly persistent and accrescent. Corolla of (4)5 lobes, more or less irregular (sometimes nearly regular or bilabiate), salverform with a well-developed tube and limb or else funnelform and the tube widening gradually into the limb. Stamens (2)4 or 5, inserted on the corolla tube, alternate with the lobes, if 4 often didynamous; staminodes present in some taxa. Nectary disk sometimes present or nectary present among corolla lobes. Carpels most often 2, united, gynoecium initially 2-locular but usually a false septum present, producing 4 locules, each uniovulate; some taxa with more locules or else, as in Lantana, 1 carpel aborting and the fruit 2-celled, sometimes the false septum not developing and ovules 2 per locule; placentation axile; style 1, terminal. Fruit usually dry, schizocarpic, separating into 4, 1-seeded nutlets OR fruit more or less fleshy and drupe-like, 2- or 4-celled, with (1)2 or 4 stones, sometimes dehiscent at maturity.

This is a large family whose limits are not well defined. Several small families can be split off from the core of the Verbenaceae on the basis of gynoecium and fruit anatomy (e.g. Avicenniaceae, Phrymaceae, etc.). However, at what taxonomic level these differ from Verbenaceae (s.s.) seems to be a matter of taste.

As treated here (without the Avicenniaceae, etc.) about 71 genera and 1,780 species, mostly tropical and a few subtropical and temperate; 14 genera and 71 species in TX; 6 genera and 21 species here.

The family includes a number of important ornamentals in Verbena, Clerodendron, Caryopteris, etc. Some of the tropical genera are important for timber (e.g. Tectona--teak). Some taxa are used in regional herbal medicines. Others may be weedy (Mabberley 1987).

Ours trees or shrubs (elsewhere also scandent plants). Leaves opposite, palmately (1-)3- to 7-foliolate, leaflets petiolulate or sessile, entire to incised or lobed. Inflorescences basically cymose, variously arranged, axillary or terminal, rarely (and not in ours) in heads; bractlets usually small and linear, but sometimes longer than the calyx. Calyx campanulate to tubular-funnelform, with (3)5 lobes or teeth, usually slightly irregular. Corolla blue, violet, white or yellowish, funnelform or salverform, tube cylindric, slightly to strongly curved, limb oblique, nearly 2-lipped, the upper part bifid, the lower part 3-lobed, the posterior 2 lobes exterior and usually smaller. Stamens 4, didynamous, often exserted. Ovary bicarpellate, eventually 4-locular and 4-ovulate; style briefly bifid. Mature calyx commonly accrescent, flat to cup-like, scarcely enclosing the fruit. Fruit drupe-like and more or less fleshy, with a hard endocarp, the 4 seeds without endosperm.

About 250 species of tropical to temperate regions; 2 cultivated in TX and escaping; both recorded from our area.

The trees that Americans are familiar with are small and grown for their ornamental flowers. Some tropical species, though, are important timber plants (Mabberley 1987).

Several forms exist in cultivation.

var. agnus-castus is the typical variety with lavender or lilac flowers and is the most common here.

var. caerulea Rehd. has blue flowers.

forma alba (West.) Rehd. has white flowers.

The twigs are used in basketwork in some regions. The fruit can be used as a pepper substitute, which accounts for many of the common names. White flowered plants are a traditional symbol of chastity (Mabberley 1987).

var. heterophylla (Franch.) Rehd. has leaflets mostly only 2 to 7 cm long, deeply and irregularly pinnatisect or incised, often to halfway to the midrib. Known from a Brazos Co. specimen (TAES 16266, from 1919), but possibly only from cultivation--the collector, H. B. Parks, frequently failed to include such designations on his labels. [Includes var. incisa (Lam.) Clarke].

var. intermedia (P'ei) Moldenke has leaves dentate to serrate. Escaped in S. and SE TX; known from Grimes Co.

About 150 species of tropical and subtropical regions; 1 in TX.

Some, including ours, are cultivated for their ornamental fruit (Mabberley 1987).

1. C. americana L. American Beautyberry, French Mulberry, etc. Shrub to 3 m tall, well-branched but not dense; twigs densely stellate-scurfy or tomentose, light brown. Leaves opposite, thin, ovate to elliptic, 8 to 23 cm long, 3.5 to 15 cm broad, acute to acuminate, tapered to the petiole, serrate or crenate-dentate, at least along the middle of the sides, pale stellate-scurfy, especially below and when young, becoming glabrate above, light green. Cymes axillary, 1 to 3.5 cm long, usually shorter than the subtending petiole, dense, and with many small flowers, several to many times dichotomous; peduncle 3 to 10 mm long, pubescent like the twigs or glabrate; pedicels 0.4 to 1.2 mm long, scurfy or glabrous; bractlets small, subulate or setaceous. Calyx campanulate to obconic, (1)1.6 to 1.8 mm long, 1 to 1.5 mm in diameter, nearly truncate, with 4 very small teeth, slightly puberulent-granulose; corolla white to pale pink or bluish, funnelform, small, the tube 2.6 to 2.9 mm long, the 4 lobes 1.3 to 1.5 mm long, blunt. Fruit in dense clusters, very showy, bright pink-purple to lilac, violet, or rose, 3 to 6 mm in diameter, globose, fleshy, each 4-seeded, the seeds ca. 2.3 mm long. Dry or moist woods, thickets, wet slopes, bottomlands, fencerows, swamp margins, etc., common as an understory plant in local woods. E. TX, W. to Tarrant, Kendall, and Bexar Cos.; MD to MO, S. to NC, TN, AR, OK, and TX; also N. Mex. Flowers Jun.-fall; fruit conspicuous in autumn.

Sometimes cultivated--and deservedly so--for the showy fruit. A white fruited form exists but is not found in our area outside of cultivation. Some sources say the fruit is safe to eat, while some say it is not. It is not listed by the AMA as poisonous (Lampe 1985), but it is unpalatable and probably should not be considered edible (Tull 1987).

Herbs or shrubs, erect to scandent or decumbent; branches in ours angled. Herbage scabrous and hirsute or tomentose, often aromatic or unpleasantly scented. Leaves opposite, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, dentate to crenate. Inflorescences spikes, cylindrical or commonly contracted and head-like, usually pedunculate and axillary. Blossoms yellow, orange, red, purple, white, etc, each subtended by an ovate to lanceolate bract. Calyx small, truncate and entire or with small teeth. Corolla salverform, regular to zygomorphic, 4-lobed or sometimes somewhat 5-lobed or obscurely bilabiate, the lobes obtuse to retuse. Stamens 4, included, didynamous, inserted about the middle of the corolla tube. Ovary unicarpellate, bilocular, each cell uniovulate; style included, stigma oblique or sublateral, bilobed. Fruit usually fleshy and drupe-like, in ours blue-black, the endocarp stony, 2-celled or splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; seeds without endosperm.

About 150 species of tropical America and Africa; 6 in TX; 2 here.

Many species are cultivated for their showy flowers. Some, e.g. L. camara, are weedy when introduced and compete aggressively with native plants. The fruit of some species is edible (Mabberley 1987).

The fruit is reportedly edible (Moldenke 1942; Correll and Johnston 1970) but the unripe fruit can be dangerous to children, while the fruit and foliage are also said to be toxic to livestock (Tull 1987).

The fruit is poisonous (Lampe 1985). Cultivated forms have many colors, the heads solid or mixed yellow, white, pink, lavender, red, etc. Butterflies are attracted to the blossoms.

Shrubs, usually erect and the foliage sweetly scented. Leaves opposite, deciduous, entire to toothed. Inflorescences slender racemes or spikes, each flower subtended by an inconspicuous or conspicuous bractlet. Calyx with 4 slender, subequal teeth, tube angled, tubular-campanulate and usually pubescent. Corolla salverform, zygomorphic and bilabiate, lobes of the lower lip about equalling the upper lip. Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted about the middle of the corolla tube, included. Ovary unicarpellate, bilocular, each cell uniovulate. Fruit dry and separating at maturity into 2 thin-walled cocci.

37 species of SW. N. Amer., Mex., and S. S. Amer.; 3 in TX; 1 here.

Some species are cultivated for ornament or used as an aromatic or flavoring (Bailey, et al. 1976; Mabberley 1987).

1. A. gratissima (Gill. & Hook.) Troncoso Whitebrush, Common Bee-brush, Palo Amarillo, etc. Plants slender, to 3 m tall, well-branched; twigs stiff, gray, grayish-puberulent, sometimes spiny at the tips, wood yellow. Leaves opposite-decussate, often with axillary fascicles of smaller leaves; petiole 1 to 3 mm long or wanting; blades narrowly oblong-elliptic to lance-oblong, 3 to 27 mm long, 2 to 8 mm broad, apically obtuse to acute or sometimes minutely mucronate or emarginate, tapered to the base, entire, upper surface minutely strigillose and scabrous-pustulate, lower surface densely grayish-puberulent and glandular-punctate. Inflorescences usually 1 or 2 per node, longer than the leaves, 2 to 7 cm long, many-flowered; flowers white or tinged with violet, vanilla-scented, subtended by lanceolate, acuminate, densely puberulent, deciduous bractlets 1 to 1.5 mm long. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 2.5 to 3 mm long, 4-ribbed, densely white-hirsute and with glands beneath the hairs, the 4 lobes linear-subulate and unequal; corolla tube longer than the calyx, externally glabrous, limb ca. 3 mm broad, throat loosely villous internally. Dry areas: grasslands, bluff, washes, woods, outcrops, etc. Throughout much of TX except Plains Country; very uncommon in our area, but 1 specimen known from Brazos Co. (TAMU 020773)--possibly cultivated; also NM, Mex., and S. Amer. Mar.-Nov. A. ligustrina (Lag.) Small; A. lycioides Cham.; Lippia lycioides (Cham.) Steud., L. ligustrina (Lag.) Britt.].

The Brazos Co. specimen is var. gratissima, with narrow, entire leaves. Var. schulzae (Standl.) L. Benson has larger, broader leaves, usually with 2 to 8 teeth.

The foliage is reportedly a good browse for sheep, though the flowers are said to be toxic to horses. The flowers are a source of nectar that makes good honey (Powell 1988). The leaves and flowers can be made into a tea (Tull 1987).

Ours annual or more usually perennial herbs. Stems and branches procumbent to ascending or erect, often quadrangular, glabrous to variously pubescent. Leaves opposite, simple, very rarely entire, usually dentate or serrate to pinnately incised, cleft, lobed, or pinnatifid, glabrous to variously pubescent, sessile or petiolate. Inflorescence basically a spike, dense to loose, sometimes flat-topped and appearing somewhat umbellate, sometimes elongating greatly in age and the fruits remote; spikes solitary at the branch tips, cymosely in 3's, or clustered and more or less paniculate, each flower subtended by a bractlet, these usually rather inconspicuous but sometimes foliose and longer than the calyx. Calyx cylindrical, with 5 angles, 5 ribs, and 5 unequal teeth, little changed in fruit. Corolla salverform or funnelform, the tube straight or curved, the limb flat and spreading, slightly 2-lipped or zygomorphic, lobes 5, usually unequal. Stamens 4, didynamous, attached in the upper 1/2 of the tube, usually included, anther connective with or without a glandular appendage. Ovary bicarpellate, with 4 uniovulate cells; style 1, terminal, the apex 2-lobed, one lobe sterile and smooth, the other papillose and stigmatic. Fruit separating at maturity into 4 nutlets, usually enclosed by the calyx, both the exterior and the commissural (shared, interior) faces variously and often diagnostically sculptured.

About 250 species of temperate and tropical America, only 2 or 3 in the Old World; 34 species in TX; 13 known from our area.

Some species have medicinal value, but more familiar are the species with showy flowers and cultivated as garden ornamentals. V. x hybrida and related cultivars are the common garden verbenas, available in a wide variety of colors.

NOTE: Our plants can be divided into two sections, Verbenaca and Glandularia. The two groups are nearly universally recognized, the only disagreement being at what level they should be split. Umber (1979) argued for maintaining Glandularia as a separate genus, an approach adopted by Kartesz (1998). However, many floras (e.g., GPFA 1986) retain all the taxa in Verbena. The two genera (or sections) may be separated by the characters noted in the following key. These characters are small but consistent. However, since these features are not easily discernable on many specimens under normal field and classroom conditions, all our plants are presented as Verbena and synonyms are provided in the species entries so that the user may apply names in Glandularia if desired.

a. Style several times longer than ovary; nutlets with a basal cavity; sterile style lobe

extending well beyond the stigmatic surface; inflorescence generally of 1 to 3 spikes; calyx usually twice as long as the nutlets and contorted beyond them; anther connective usually with a glandular appendage; corolla usually relatively large and showy ..................................

....................................................................................................genus or section Glandularia

a. Style equalling to only 3 times longer than the ovary; nutlets without a basal cavity; sterile style lobe usually not extending beyond the stigmatic surface; spikes generally aggregated into cymes or panicles; calyx seldom more than twice as long as the nutlets and not contorted beyond them; anther connective without a glandular appendage; corolla usually small and not singly showy ..............................section Verbenaca or genus Verbena

1. Spikes more than 6 mm broad (excluding the corollas), dense in both flower and fruit; flowers usually (but not always) singly showy ..........................................................................2

1. Spikes generally less than 6 mm broad (excluding the corollas), dense or loose; flowers usually (but not always) small and not singly showy ...............................................................7

Tull (1987) includes a recipe for a bright yellow dye using the whole plant.

Known to hybridize with V. canadensis; see NOTE at that species below.

NOTE: Said to hybridize with V. bipinnatifida. V. x oklahomensis Moldenke is the name usually applied to the hybrids, but Kartesz (1998) lists this as a synonym of V. canadensis.

These plants were formerly treated as V. halei and have long been known to be close to V. officinalis, an Old World species. For example, North American plants were listed under V. officinalis by Britton and Brown in the first edition of their Illustrated Flora (1898). Barber (1982) examined the differences and similarities between Old and New World plants and concluded that the two are conspecific. Kartesz (1998) maintains V. halei. (Over.)

The Old World form was once used medicinally to treat eye diseases, supposedly because the wide-eyed flowers suggested such a use (Mabberley 1987). North American folk and pharmacological traditions employed V. officinalis as an emetic and expectorant (Kindscher 1992).

Perennial herbs. Main stems creeping or procumbent, branches trailing to ascending, sometimes slightly woody at the base. Herbage nearly glabrate or strigose with more or less cinereous hairs. Leaves opposite, variously shaped, dentate except at the base, flat or pinnately pleated above. Inflorescences 1 to 3 in the axils, usually spike-like, hemispheric or cylindric, elongating in fruit. Flowers small, sessile, each subtended by a small cuneate-obovate or fan-shaped bractlet. Calyx small, membranous, the rim bifid or 4-fid or with 4 teeth. Corolla salverform, tube cylindrical, slightly shorter than the calyx or sometimes longer, limb oblique, slightly 2-lipped, 4-lobed, the lobes often retuse. Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted about the middle of the corolla tube, included or slightly exserted. Ovary 2-locular, each locule 1-ovulate. Fruit small, dry, included within the calyx and sometimes adherent to it, exocarp dry and membranous, inclosing but scarcely distinct from the 2 pyrenes within.

15 species of tropical and warmer regions; 4 in TX; 2 here. Retained by some in Lippia, which differs in having the flowers 4-ranked and the spikes sometimes aggregated into corymbs or panicles.

Though the flowers are small, the clusters can be attractive. Some species, especially P. nodiflora, are grown as ornamental ground covers (Mabberley 1987).

This is a highly variable species. Many varieties have been named, but as they intergrade, the current trend is toward combining them all. This is the approach presented by GPFA (1986) and Kartesz (1998) and favored here. Other sources (e.g., Hickman 1993 and Smith 1994) consider this reduction too extreme and recognize a few combined varieties. If such varieties are recognized our plants can usually be assigned to one of the following:

var. nodiflora Leaf teeth usually small, appressed, forward-pointing; leaves generally 2 to 4 times longer than wide; floral bractlets glabrous to ciliate; corolla white or rose. [All of the above synonyms except P. incisa Small].

var. incisa (Small) Moldenke Leaf teeth usually relatively large and spreading; leaves generally 4 to 5 times longer than wide; floral bractlets densely white-strigillose; corolla white with a yellow eye, sometimes tinged purplish in old age. [P. incisa Small].

Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs or sometimes small shrubs. Stems typically square in cross-section. Herbage often aromatic. Leaves opposite (rarely basal or whorled), estipulate, simple, often crenate or serrate or occasionally pinnatifid or lobed. Inflorescence of cymules borne in the axils of leaves or bracts, the opposite pairs of cymes forming verticils, verticils one to many, OR inflorescence essentially racemose when the cymules reduced to single flowers. Flowers perfect (rarely unisexual), sometimes with bracteoles subtending the individual flowers. Calyx synsepalous, often at least somewhat 2-lipped, teeth usually 5 (sometimes 10), the 3 upper teeth fused and the lower 2 free, occasionally all the teeth nearly equal or in Scutellaria both lips entire, calyx tube usually enlarged in fruit. Corolla gamopetallous, slightly to strongly 2-lipped, the upper lip of 2 fused petals, erect, usually galeate (hood-like), sometimes short or notched, lower lip of 3 fused petals, usually spreading, the middle lobe sometimes cuplike, occasionally all the petals nearly equal and the corolla almost regular (in Mentha often 4-lobed) or, as in Teucrium, all 5 petals pulled to the bottom of the corolla. Stamens included within the corolla or exserted, usually 4 and didynamous, sometimes only 2, connective between anther cells often enlarged; anther sacs parallel or divergent, in Salvia one cell of each pair rudimentary. Style bifid, in most species gynobasic and arising from below and between the 4 distinct lobes of the ovary, or in some species, notably Trichostema, the lobes of the ovary at least partially united below and the style more nearly terminal. Ovules solitary in each of the 4 cells of the ovary--ovary actually bicarpellate but becoming 4-locular during development. Fruit a cluster of 4 hard-coated cocci or nutlets, sometimes fewer by abortion, usually enclosed by the persistent calyx.

About 3,500 species worldwide in 180 genera. There are 32 genera and about 115 species in TX; 19 genera and 40 species in our area.

The mint family is of great economic importance for many herbs and flavorings--mint, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, sage, etc.--as well as aromatic and ornamental plants--lavender, bee balm, Salvia, lemon balm, and so on. These plants occasionally escape or remain around old homesites but are not generally persistent members of our flora.

Annual or perennial herbs or (some, but not ours, subshrubs), from taproots and/or rhizomes or underground stolons. Stems square, procumbent to erect, simple to branched. Herbage not aromatic. Leaves sessile to petiolate, entire to crenate or serrate. Flowers 1 to 3 in the axils of the foliage leaves or in bracted axillary or terminal racemes; pedicels ca. 2 to 4 mm long. Calyx roughly campanulate, zygomorphic, bilabiate, both lips entire, upper lip slightly galeate and with a concave crest or appendage often longer than the lip itself; calyx accrescent and closing in fruit or sometimes splitting at maturity, often with some purple pigment. Corolla zygomorphic, bilabiate, the tube ascending and curved, the upper lip hooded, entire or slightly notched, lower lip spreading or convex, notched or entire, all blue to purple, rarely white or pink, lower lip often with a whitish patch bearing darker spots. Stamens 4, didynamous, exserted from the throat and ascending under the upper lip; anthers ciliate, those of the upper stamens 2-celled and cordate, those of the lower stamens 1-celled. Style gynobasic, ovary 4-lobed. Cocci yellow to brown or black, spherical to ovoid, ca. 1 to 2 mm in diameter, papillate or tuberculate.

About 300 species worldwide; 15 in TX; 5 here.

The calyx crest (described by some as "tractor-seat shaped") and the entire calyx lips distinguish this genus from all our other native mints. Many species have lovely flowers and would make good additions to the home garden.

1. Flowers in axillary or terminal racemes; flowers subtended by bracts dissimilar to the leaves ........................................................................................................................................2

1. Flowers in the axils of the foliage leaves .................................................................................3

Nine subspecies, distinguished primarily by pubescence characters, are listed for N. America by Kartesz (1998). Three of these, subsp. ovata, subsp. bracteata (Benth.) Epl., and subsp. mexicana Epl., are listed for TX. However, the species is highly variable and the subspecies intergrade, leaving quite a bit of doubt as to their distinctiveness. In fact, the subspecies are not recognized in some major floras (e.g., Steyermark 1963; Radford, et al. 1968; GPFA 1986; Smith 1994). An older treatment of the variation in this species, involving 3 varieties distinguished by bract and calyx proportions and leaf textures, is used in some manuals (e.g., Steyermark 1963), but is similarly difficult to apply.

Three varieties occur in TX, all of which seem to be present here.

var. australis Fassett Southern Small Skullcap Stem pubescence of long, glandular-capitate hairs ca. 1/2 as long as stem is wide, plus some short, curved to ascending eglandular hairs; leaves broadly ovate to ovate, those of the midstem 1 1/4 times longer than wide, usually with longish, spreading capitate hairs on both surfaces, especially along veins, lateral veins anastomosing to form 1 submarginal vein, margins little if at all revolute. [S. australis (Fassett) Epl.].

var. leonardii (Epl.) Fern. Leonard's Small Skullcap Stems glabrate to antrorsely appressed-scabrous (sometimes also with glandular-capitate hairs near the base); leaves ovate to lanceolate, those of the mid-stem about 2.2 times longer than wide, lateral veins rarely branching or anastomosed, margins manifestly revolute. [S. leonardii Epl.; S. ambigua Nutt.].

var. parvula Stems densely glandular-pubescent, the hairs about 1/3 as long as the stem is wide, usually also with short, retrorse, eglandular hairs; leaves ovate to narrowly ovate, those of the midstem ca. 1.7 times longer than wide, veins on the lower surface densely eglandular-pubescent, veins sub-anastomosing near the margins, margins revolute; calyx and lower leaf surface with sessile glands.

Our plants are probably all var. drummondii. [S. helleri Small].

This charming little plant would probably be wonderful in a rock garden.

Taprooted annual herbs. Stems 1 to several from the base, simple or branched below, pubescent below the inflorescence. Leaves sessile or petiolate, the lower often with winged petioles, typically oblong to oblanceolate, denticulate to nearly undulate or nearly entire, upper leaves oblong to elliptic, usually sessile and slightly clasping. Flowers in spikes or racemes, these upright, terminal or both terminal and axillary. Calyx sparsely to densely pubescent, campanulate and bilabiate, more or less inflated and closed at maturity, two lower lobes with 3 to 5 teeth. Corolla rose, pale pink, purple, or lavender, bilabiate, upper lip bifid, lower lip 3-lobed, the lobes usually notched, throat with an annulus of hairs. Stamens 4, the upper pair longer, each anther with 2 parallel sacs. Cocci 3-angled, with curved hispidulous hairs.

This genus is restricted to 2 species in TX; 1 here. This treatment follows M. W. Turner (1966).

1. B. truncata (Benth.) Engelm. & Gray Rattlesnake Weed. Plants simple or branched below, any branches immediately ascending. Floral bracts mostly 4 to 8 mm long, acuminate to attenuate, ciliate. Corolla 15 to 22(25) mm long, the two upper lobes lavender and the three lower paler lavender, annulus in throat usually perpendicular to axis of corolla. Lower lip of calyx inflexed in fruit. Usually on sandy soils, mostly in localized populations under xeric conditions.

There are two intergrading varieties, both present in our area (Turner 1996). Plants intermediate between the two are known from Robertson Co.

1. Mature inflorescences densely flowered, with lower internodes mostly 5 to 6 mm long; lower lobes of calyx usually woolly-tomentose basally, with hairs to 2 mm long ...........................................................................1a. var. truncata

1. Mature inflorescences loose and interrupted,with lower internodes mostly 8 to 13 mm long; lower lobes of calyx lightly pubescent to canescent, the hairs to only 0.2(1) mm long ........................................................1b. var. pulcherrima

1a. var. truncata Rattlesnake Flowers. Plants usually 20 to 35 cm tall, Lower leaves oblanceolate or spatulate, to 5 to 9(10) cm long, 1 to 2 cm broad, narrowed into winged petioles. Spikes densely flowered, the internodes mostly 5 to 6 mm long; bracts ovate-orbicular, apiculate and with long marginal hairs. Calyx ca. 5 mm long at anthesis, enlarging to 8 to 9 mm at maturity when it becomes flattened on the lower side and gibbous at the base on the upper side, with sparse, scattered glandular hairs, upper lobes mucronate to apiculate, lower lobes usually basally woolly-tomentose or at least densely pubescent, many of the hairs to 2 mm long; upper corolla lobes ca. 9 mm long, the 3 lower ca. 6 mm long; annulus usually 2 to 3 mm above ovary; style 1 to 1.5 mm long. Sandy soils from S. Cen. to E. Cen. TX, N. to Burleson Co., where uncommon. Apr.-May.

1b. var. pulcherrima (Lundell) M. W. Turner Plants mostly 3 to 6 dm tall. Basal leaves withering early, mostly 5 to 9(11) cm long, 1 to 2(3) cm broad, stem leaves usually 5 to 8 pairs below the inflorescence, long-tapering spatulate, to about 13 cm long and 2.5 cm wide (smaller on smaller plants), remotely crenate-denticulate along the distal margin, acute to obtuse, lower leaves petiolate and upper leaves clasping or with winged petioles, all leaves glabrous except for short pubescence at the base on the upper surface. Racemes loose and interrupted, the lower internodes chiefly 8 to 13 mm long, axis pubescent with short glandular and eglandular hairs; bracts to 6 mm long, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, acute to acuminate-subulate, conspicuously ciliate along the margins. Upper calyx lobes rounded to apiculate, both upper and lower lobes with scattered eglandular and capitate-glandular hairs, most only ca. 0.2 mm long, occasional hairs to 1 mm long; upper corolla lobes ca. 10 mm long, the lower 3 lobes 7 to 8 mm long; annulus usually 3 to 4(5) mm above the ovary; style 1.5 to 2 mm long. Sandy soils of roadsides and open fields in NE. Cen. TX--Leon, Anderson, Henderson, Freestone, and Houston Cos. Apr.-June. [B. pulcherrima Lundell].

A monotypic genus once placed as a part of Brazoria (Turner, 1996).

1. W. scutellarioides (Engelm. & Gray) M. W. Turner Brazos Mint, Prairie Brazoria. Annual, stems erect, 15 to 30(75) cm tall, branched, stems and branches below the inflorescence mostly glabrous. Leaves mostly 3 to 5 cm long, 5 to 10 mm broad, sessile, somewhat clasping, oblong to elliptic, rounded to acute, serrate above the middle, teeth often curved, lower leaves sometimes oblanceolate and tapered to a winged petiole. Spikes or racemes to as much as 20 cm long, terminal or axillary and terminal, sometimes arranged in a panicle, somewhat loose, lower internodes 5 to 10 mm long; bracts ovate to lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 3 to 6 mm long, ciliate-margined. Calyx 3 to 6 mm long, with a few capitate-glandular hairs, some eglandular hairs mostly to 0.1 mm long also present, markedly unequally bilabiate, the three upper lobes ovate and apiculate, broader than the two lower, lanceolate to apiculate ones, calyx enlarging to 5 mm in fruit when the upper lip arches backwards and the lower lip arches upwards, nearly closing the throat; corolla red purple to purple, pink, or flesh-color, ca. 0.7 to 1.5 cm long from the base of the tube to the tip of the lower lip, minutely pubescent externally, upper lip entire and nearly galeate, lower lip trifid, the lobes emarginate, throat without an annulus of hairs; stamens 4, didynamous, anthers purplish, margins with small laciniations or teeth; style 1 to 1.5 mm long, bilobed, glabrous, branches linear-lanceolate. Nutlets ca. trigonous, 1.2 to 1.5 mm long, glabrous and somewhat granular. Calcareous or clay soils of W. Cen. TX (one population known from Tyler Co.); in our area from at least Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, and Washington Cos.; also OK, Mex. Mar.-May. [Brazoria scutellarioides Engelm. & Gray].

Six Asian species with one naturalized in TX.

1. P. frutescens (L.) Britt. Common Perilla, Beefsteak Plant. Annual; stems 2 to 8 dm tall, erect, branching, pilose or retrorsely pubescent to glabrous; herbage aromatic, often purple or purple-tinged. Leaves ovate or sometimes to suborbicular (rarely elliptic), 5 to 13(15) cm long, ca. 2 to 8 cm wide, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, primarily on the veins, margins serrate or crenate or incised, apices acute or abruptly short-acuminate, basally cuneate or attenuate to the petiole (less commonly rounded or nearly truncate); petioles 1 to 7(8) cm long, usually sparsely pubescent. Flowers solitary in the axils of small bracts, forming 1-sided, spikelike racemes to ca. 15 cm long; peduncles 1 to 5 cm long; bracts 3 to 6 mm long, ovate to elliptic, usually folded, generally entire, acute to acuminate apically and rounded at the base, sessile or nearly so; pedicels 1 to 3 mm long. Calyx campanulate, 10-nerved, bilabiate, 2 to 3 mm long at anthesis, 7 to 12 mm long and with the tube slightly inflated on the lower side at maturity, villous externally, sparsely villous within, upper lip erect, with 3 triangular to elliptic teeth united for about 1/3 their length, the 2 teeth of the lower lip narrowly triangular, about equalling the upper lip; corolla white to lavender, tubular, 2.5 to 3.5(6) mm long, slightly longer than the calyx, slightly zygomorphic, the two lips about equal, the 5 lobes broadly rounded, sometimes pubescent externally and the lower lobes bearded within; stamens 4, about equal, about as long as the corolla, straight, exserted from the corolla, not connivent. Cocci globose, 1.2 to 2 mm in diameter, reddish brown or sometimes darker, reticulate. Damp, wooded areas, along woodland streams, and in seepage areas. E. TX; native to India; naturalized from FL to LA and TX, and from N. Eng. and NY to OH, IN, MO, and KS. Some sources recognize varieties.

The seeds yield an edible oil that is also used in paints and inks; also used for waterproofing paper. Cultivated in India and Asia; sometimes weedy where naturalized (Mabberley 1987).

Taprooted annual (ours) or perennial herbs. Stems well-branched, branches opposite, obscurely angled, variously pubescent (often stipitate-glandular). Leaves petiolate to subsessile, linear to elliptic-ovate, entire or toothed. Inflorescence a panicle of paired, bracteate racemes or helicoid cymes, with 1 flower in the axis between each pair, occasionally the entire inflorescence racemose (usually not ours); floral bracts similar to the leaves though smaller. Calyx regular or irregular, if zygomorphic then the upper "lip" with 3 more or less equal teeth joined for about 2/3 of their length, the lower lip generally shorter than the upper and 2-toothed; at maturity (after flowering) the flowers often resupinating and the lower lip appearing as the upper. Corolla blue-violet, in some species rose-pink or white, 5-lobed, with the lowermost lobe lip-like and up to 1.5 times the length of the others 4 which are subequal, united, and somewhat galeate or at least arched, corolla pubescent externally. Stamens 4, inserted near the throat, ascending under the upper lip, straight to curved or coiled, anther sacs divergent at maturity. Style not strongly gynobasic, generally curved in the same way as the stamens, upper stigma lobe often somewhat shorter than the lower. Cocci obovoid, united for ca. 1/3 their length, rugose to reticulate or alveolate, dull, olive or brown to blackish.

About 15 species in N. America; 4 in TX; 2 here (but one sometimes given its own genus.)

Noteworthy both for its fall-flowering and its charming flowers with watch-spring stamens, this plant would be a good choice for the shade garden.

About 7 species found worldwide. We have the one found in TX.

1. P. vulgaris L. Common Self-heal, Heal-all, Carpenter Weed. Perennial herb from a short caudex or slender rhizome; stems 1 to several from the base, erect, ascending, or decumbent, often clustered, glabrous to pilose or villous, 1 to ca. 8 dm tall. A tuft of basal leaves commonly present, leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate or elliptic, or the middle and lower leaves elliptic-oblong, 3 to 7(10) cm long and (0.5)1 to 3(4) cm wide, glabrous to lightly villous, acute to obtuse or sometimes rounded apically, basally cuneate to rounded, crenate to serrate (sometimes remotely or irregularly so), leaves just below the inflorescence often very narrow and nearly entire; petioles 0.5 to 4 cm long, those of the lower leaves the longest, reduced upwards and the upper leaves often sessile. Inflorescence spikelike in appearance, flowers in small cymules of 3, each cluster subtended by a bract; bracts orbicular to reniform, abruptly cuspidate, glabrous or villous-hirsute on the veins, markedly ciliate on the margins, 5 to 15 mm long and 7 to 14 mm wide, often edged or tinged with purple; bracteoles beneath each flower none or, if present, minute and subulate. Calyx sometimes purple, bilabiate, 10-nerved, 6 to 15 mm long, glabrous or villous externally, the throat naked and closed in fruit, tube 2.5 to 3.5 mm long, upper lip truncate or with 3 short teeth or mucronate lobes united for 3/4 or more of their length, the middle lobe longer than the laterals, lower lip 2-lobed, the lobes united for about 1/3 their length, lanceolate to narrowly deltoid, ciliate, about equalling the upper lip; corolla 1 to 2.3 cm long, violet (rarely white), glabrous to sparsely villous externally, glabrous or with a ring of hairs within, bilabiate, tube 7 to 12 mm long, upper lip arched, galeate, usually unlobed, lower lip spreading or deflexed, shorter than the upper, 3-lobed, the 2 lateral lobes entire and the median one erose, fringed, or ciliate, often paler than the rest of the corolla; stamens 4, didynamous, the lower pair the longer, ascending under the upper lip, filaments 2-pronged at apex, one prong bearing the anther and the other sterile, anther cells divergent; style with 2 equal lobes. Cocci ovoid, smooth or ribbed or carunculate, lustrous, yellow-brown to dark brown, ca. 1.7 to 2.2 mm long. Open woods, low meadows, roadsides, pastures, etc. E. 1/4 TX; native to Eurasia and widespread in N. America, occurring in all regions of the U.S. and Canada where there is sufficient moisture. Apr.-Jun. in TX.

Those who recognize subspecific taxa (some recent authors do not) list 2 for TX: subsp. vulgaris (includes var. hispida Benth.), with stems and lower leaf surfaces usually densely pubescent, and subsp. lanceolata (= var. lanceolata (Benth.) Fern.) with narrower leaves than the typical form. The vast majority of our local material seems to belong to the latter at whatever level it is recognized.

This plant has been used in teas for bathing cuts and bruises and for treating sore throats (Mabberley 1987).

About 40 species native to Africa. At least 2 species have become naturalized in N. America. We have the 1 found in TX.

1. L. nepetifolia (L.) Ait. f. Lion's Ears, (Poodle Mint). Annual herb 0.5 to 2 m tall (sometimes more); stems simple or freely branched, soft-pubescent to canescent. Leaves ovate to ovate-deltoid, 5 to 12 cm long and 4 to 10 cm wide, obtuse-apiculate, basally truncate to cordate, sometimes oblique, coarsely crenate (occasionally crenate-dentate), minutely pubescent on both surfaces; petioles 3 to 7 cm long. Inflorescence of 1 to 3, globose, headlike clusters completely encircling the stem, each cluster 4 to 6 cm in diameter, many-flowered, and subtended by two narrow, reflexed leaves, 2 small leaves usually at the top of the stem; flowers opening from the top of each cluster down, so that the upper flowers of the smaller, upper clusters may be open before the lower flowers of the bottom, oldest cluster; pedicels 1 to 2 mm long. Calyx with curled pubescence, 1.5 to 2 cm long, bilabiate, the tube 10-nerved, the lobes 7 to 10, all of different lengths and each aristate or spine-tipped, the upper most lobe much the largest and somewhat hooded; corolla orange-yellow to scarlet (due mostly to the colored, dense pubescence), 2 to 2.5 cm long overall, bilabiate, the tube dilated above and curved, the upper lip erect to galeate, 0.8 to 1.2 cm long, lower lip much shorter than the upper, 3 to 4 mm long, 3-lobed; stamens 4, didynamous, exserted beyond the margin of the upper lip, filaments minutely pubescent; stigma 2-lobed with 1 lobe much longer than the other. Cocci 3-angled, oblanceolate, 3 to 3.3 mm long, depressed-truncate and glandular at the apex, brown. Waste places, roadsides, and cultivated ground. E. and Cen. TX; TN to NC, GA, FL, and TX, W. to MS and AL; native to S. Africa. Jun.-Sept. [Sometimes spelled nepetaefolia].

Not very common in our area, possibly only occasionally escaping cultivation, but quite unmistakable when found. The dry stems with the round balls of empty calyces are interesting in arrangements.

Perennial herbs from rhizomes, these simple or branched, vertical or horizontal; stems to ca. 2 m tall, erect, generally unbranched below the inflorescence; pubescence, if present, generally only in the inflorescence. Leaves of overwintering rosette often deciduous prior to anthesis, cauline leaves sessile to petiolate (petioles to 6.5 cm), often the upper leaves clasping, blades glabrous, linear to oblanceolate, oblong, or ovate, margins entire to sharply serrate. Inflorescence of 1 to 20 racemes, the axes puberulent to tomentose or glabrous near the base, sometimes also with stalked glands. Flowers sessile or the lowermost short-pediceled, solitary in the axils of small bracts. Calyx regular (or very nearly so), campanulate to campanulate-tubular, with 10 very obscure nerves, externally puberulent to pubescent (rarely sub-glabrous), often also glandular-punctate or stipitate-glandular, interior surface glabrous or with stalked glands, teeth or lobes 5, erect, shorter than the tube, deltoid to lanceolate, acuminate to cuspidate. Corolla much longer than the calyx, bilabiate, tubular below and widening upward, exterior pubescent or tomentose to glabrous, interior primarily glabrous to subglabrous, except near the attachment of the stamens, upper lip erect to slightly galeate or horizontal to spreading, entire to slightly emarginate, lower lip about equalling the upper, 3-lobed, the lobes divergent to reflexed, the median lobe larger than the laterals, color ranging from pure white to deep lavender, usually with darker markings within. Stamens 4, didynamous, the outer pair the longer, ascending under the upper lip parallel to each other or sometimes divergent, exserted from the corolla tube but equalling the upper lip, filaments somewhat coherent by long, tangled hairs; anthers purple to white, glabrous to pubescent and with a few glands on the abaxial surface, sacs parallel, dorsifixed. Ovary deeply 4-lobed, with a single nectary adjacent to two of the lobes and larger than all the lobes; style equalling stamens, stigma lobes equal or subequal. Cocci 1.7 to 4.2 mm long, trigonous, usually smooth.

Species of Physostegia are difficult to circumscribe and cannot be identified by single characters, rather, each has a suite of characters which separates it from other species. Important characters include corolla color, rhizome type (vertical vs. horizontal), leaf margin, leaf base, and the presence or absence of glandular hairs. These characters are much more obvious in fresh material and each seems to have arisen and disappeared, evolving and reverting many times in the history of the genus--hence shared characters do not necessarily reflect interspecific relationships. All of this is complicated by the fact that not all individuals possess all the characters "typical" of the species. Fortunately, Cantino published an excellent monograph (1982) with detailed keys, descriptions, and maps. The following key and descriptions are based on this monograph and on species annotated by Dr. Cantino. NOTE: that corolla measurements are based on herbarium sheets; flowers in fresh material will be a little longer.

Most species have, at one time or another, been placed in Dracocephalum.

According to Cantino, there are 12 species in N. America from Can. to Mex.; 7 in TX; 5 quite likely here.

The common name Obedient Plant stems from the fact that the flowers, if moved laterally in the inflorescence, will "obediently" stay where placed. All have ornamental value and some are grown in gardens--escapes make identifications even more difficult.

1. Calyx and rachis of inflorescence with stalked glands as well as non- glandular

Most easily confused with P. pulchella and P. virginiana subsp. praemorsa. It can be told from the latter by its longer (0.13 to 0.2 mm) trichomes; those of ssp. praemorsa are rarely even 0.1 mm long--use 60x lens.

Most easily confused with P. angustifolia but much later flowering where the ranges overlap and with shorter hairs on the raceme axis.

The species as a whole occurs from Que. to FL, W. to Man. and TX, with some scattered populations located in MT, NM, and N. Mex. Several cultivated varieties are known, but all known free-living populations in our area are wild-type subsp. praemorsa.

See NOTE #2 at P. pulchella, below.

NOTE 1: Similar to and easily confused with P. angustifolia; most readily distinguished by the deeper corolla color. Also, P. pulchella has fewer nodes below the inflorescence and tends to be ending its blooming season when P. angustifolia is beginning (mid-May.) P. pulchella has a tendency to retain its lower petiolate leaves longer--they are often seen on herbarium sheets.

NOTE 2: Species of Physostegia are generally reproductively isolated by blooming period (among other factors) and seldom hybridize in the wild. However, Dr. Cantino has identified a plant from our area that seems to be a cross between P. pulchella and P. angustifolia.

Annual, winter annual, or perennial herbs from short taproots. Stems usually branched at the base and rooting at the lower nodes, decumbent at the base, the flowering portions erect. Leaves roughly cordate, lobed, toothed, or incised or merely crenate to serrate, petiolate. Flowers in cymules in the axils of leafy bracts, the clusters distinct on the lower stem and congested in the upper region. Calyx tubular to campanulate, 5-nerved and -toothed, more or less regular, teeth equal or the upper ones longer. Corolla bilabiate, the tube longer than the calyx, dilated at the throat, upper lip galeate, erect, entire to emarginate, ovate to oblong, lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe constricted at the base and emarginate or 2-lobed, the lateral lobes reduced or represented by convex undulations of the margin of the throat. Stamens 4, didynamous, ascending under the upper lip, the outermost pair seated lower in the corolla and longer than the other two; anther sacs divergent, pubescent. Style equally 2-lobed. Ovary 4-parted. Cocci trigonous, smooth or tuberculate.

About 40 species native to the Old World, with several naturalized in N. America; 2 in TX; 1 here. L. purpureum is found just to our east and has reddish flowers--it may someday be found here.

The common name refers to the foliage, which is nettle-like but is "dead," ie., does not sting.

1. L. amplexicaule L. Henbit, Dead-nettle. Annual, winter annual, or biennial; stems to 45 cm tall, branched at the base or from the lower axils, decumbent to erect or flexuous above, internodes reduced upwards, sparsely pubescent or appressed-hirsute. Leaf blades broadly ovate to reniform or orbicular, sometimes shallowly 3-lobed, 5 to 35 mm long and nearly as wide, basally truncate to cordate or widely cuneate, apically obtuse to rounded, crenate, variously pubescent, lower leaves with petioles to 3.5 cm long, petioles reduced upwards. Flowers (3)6 to 10 in cymules borne in the axils of foliose bracts; bracts similar to the leaves though seldom lobed, sessile and clasping or connate-perfoliate, ascending to spreading; verticils of flowers distinct or the uppermost crowded. Calyx densely pilose or villous, tubular, 4 to 7 mm long, teeth narrowly triangular, about equalling the tube; corolla red-violet, pubescent to pilose externally, especially the upper lip, glabrous within, 10 to 20 mm long, the tube slender and straight, 10 to 14 mm long, upper lip 3 to 5 mm long, entire to slightly emarginate, lower lip with the large median lobe obcordate, spotted, 1.5 to 2.5 mm long and the lateral lobes very small; cleistogamous flowers sometimes produced, white-pubescent externally. Cocci 1.5 to 2.4 mm long, trigonous, clavate to obovate, light brown to olivaceous, smooth and lustrous, sometimes white-mottled. Lawns, cultivated areas, roadsides, waste places, etc. Native to Eur. and naturalized nearly throughout TX and most of N. America. Flowering throughout the year, ours mostly late winter to early spring, primarily Feb.-Mar., one of the earliest flowers each year.

Though not as aromatic as some other mints, the leaves, stems, and flowers are tasty and can be added to salads, stews, and soups (Tull 1987).

Annual or perennial herbs to ca. 15 dm tall. Stems simple or with opposite branches. Leaves serrate, crenate or pinnatifid or lobed, short-petiolate or nearly sessile. Flowers in terminal bracteate spikes or in the axils of reduced upper leaves or leafy bracts. Calyx campanulate to saccate, bilabiate to regular, with 5 teeth and 10 nerves. Corolla bilabiate but often appearing to be one-lipped, with all 5 lobes pulled to the bottom, the tube shorter than the calyx, upper lip very short and deeply notched, the lobes about equalling the lateral lobes of the lower lip, lower lip spreading, 3-lobed, the medial lobe much the largest. Stamens 4, exserted from the notch between the lobes of the upper lip; anther sacs divergent, filaments pubescent near the base. Style 2-cleft, the branches equal. Cocci ovoid, rugose, glabrous to sparsely pubescent.

About 300 species in tropical and temperate regions of both the Old and New Worlds; 3 species in TX; 1 here.

1. T. canadense L. var. canadense American Germander, Wood Sage. Perennial herbs from creeping rhizomes, sometimes also with tubers; stems simple or branched near the inflorescence, 3 to 10(15) dm tall, pubescent with the hairs retrorsely curled or villous, eglandular. Basal leaves absent, leaf blades elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate to oval, ovate, or lanceolate, 3 to 12(16) cm long and 1 to 4(6) cm wide, basally cuneate to rounded or truncate, apically acute to acuminate or occasionally obtuse, serrate (or less often crenate or only obscurely toothed), upper leaf surface glabrous to pubescent or hirsute, lower surfaces with minute curled, eglandular hairs; longest petioles 0.3 to 2(2.5) cm long. Flowers in (2-)4- to 6-flowered verticils arranged in a spiciform inflorescence 6 to 30 cm long; peduncles 0 to 1 mm long; flowers subsessile, pedicels 1 to 3(4) mm long; bracts of inflorescence equal to or longer than the calyx, lance-subulate, only the lowest leaflike or occasionally the entire inflorescence with leafy bracts or leaves. Calyx often purplish, lightly eglandular (rarely sessile-glandular), appressed-pubescent or canescent, sometimes with scattered longer hairs, bilabiate, 5 to 9 mm long, the tube 4 to 7 mm long, glabrous to lightly hirsute within, enlarged and cuplike but not inflated at maturity, teeth broadly ovate to triangular, usually obtuse, the upper 3 more or less united, 1 to 2 mm long, the lower 3 slightly longer; corolla 10 to 18 mm long, pink to lavender or purple, rarely white, commonly spotted and fading cream to yellowish, pubescent and with sessile or stipitate glands externally, tube 4 to 8 mm long, about equalling the calyx, the 2 lobes of the upper "lip" 1.5 to 3.5 mm long, erect, deltoid or narrowly deltoid, appearing lateral on the lower lip because of the deep, wide notch between them, lateral lobes of the lower lip similar but smaller and spreading, median lobe of the lower lip short-clawed, reflexed, broadly ovate, 6 to 10 mm long; stamens ascending between the lobes of the upper lip, then curved downward. Cocci ellipsoid-obovoid, 1.5 to 2.4 mm long, rugose, glabrous, yellow-brown to light reddish-brown. Wet areas--ditches, near streams, lakes, canals, marshes, etc. Nearly throughout TX; N. S., W. to MN and NE, S. to FL and TX. (The species as a whole from Que. to B.C., S. to Cuba and Mex.) May-Sept., ours primarily Jun.-July. [T. canadense L. var. virginicum (L.) Eat., T. virginicum L.]

Native to the Old World; of the 45 species, we have the one naturalized throughout North America.

1. M. vulgare L. Common Horehound, Marrubio. Rhizomatous perennial herb; stems 4-angled, erect to ascending, often forming clumps to about 1 m high, white wooly-tomentose, especially below, often also with stellate hairs; herbage aromatic and with bitter sap. Petioles 0.5 to 4 cm long, reduced upwards; blades ovate to broadly ovate or nearly orbicular, 1.5 to 5 cm long, 1 to 4 cm wide, crenate (less often serrate), the teeth often alternating small and large, apically acutish to obtuse or rounded, basally cuneate to nearly truncate or rounded, wrinkly-veined, the upper surfaces green or gray-green and sparsely tomentose, the lower leaf surfaces wooly or tomentose, whitish, often also with stellate hairs. Flowers in cymules of 7 or more, appearing verticillate, the clusters borne on the upper 1/2 to 3/4 of the stem in the axils of foliaceous bracts; bracts reduced upwards; each flower subtended by a villous-pubescent, linear bracteole about as long as the flower, usually spinose and sometimes hooked. Calyx cylindric, the tube 3 to 6 mm long, faintly 10-nerved, villous-tomentose and with stellate pubescence, teeth 10 (rarely more), ca. 2 mm long, acicular, more or less uncinate (hooked), sometimes alternating larger and smaller, a tuft of hairs often present in the throat; corolla 4 to 6 mm long, white to creamy, tube only slightly longer than the calyx, bilabiate, upper lip entire, emarginate, or with 2 lobes, pubescent externally, lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe the broadest, obovate, often emarginate, and glabrous, the lateral lobes rounded and pubescent externally; stamens 4, included within the corolla tube, didynamous, the anterior pair the longer, anther sacs divergent; style included, stigma unequally 2-lobed. Cocci ovoid to oblong or elliptic, 1.2 to 2.3 mm long, smooth to warty (often obscurely so), dark brown. Waste places, roadsides and near pens and corrals. Scattered throughout most of TX; naturalized from Eurasia. Flowering throughout the year.

The leaves and flowering parts are used for flavoring candies and so forth. The plant also have medicinal properties; one favorite use is in cough drops and sore throat lozenges (Mabberley 1987).

Perennial herbs from long, slender rhizomes. Herbage aromatic. Stems well-branched, often corymbosely so and mostly in the region of the inflorescence. Leaves sessile to short-petiolate, linear to lanceolate or elliptic, entire to serrate; floral leaves often whitened or whitish. Flowers in corymbs with the branches evident or in terminal and solitary glomerules, these often dense and headlike, though sometimes loose and open. Bracts and bracteoles present. Calyx regular or somewhat bilabiate, glabrous within, tubular, 10- to 13-nerved, 5-toothed, the teeth shorter than the tube. Corolla whitish to purplish, much longer than the calyx, slightly bilabiate, the tube slightly enlarged upwards, the two lips usually dotted with purple, about equal in length, the upper lip entire or slightly notched, the lower reflexed and with 3 ovate to oblong, obtuse lobes, the middle lobe the largest. Stamens 4, exserted or not, the lower pair slightly longer than the upper; anther sacs parallel. Stigma lobes unequal. Cocci 3-sided, obovoid or ellipsoid.

About 21 species, primarily of the E. U.S.; 4 in TX and 2 here. The relationships between some species are obscure.

In spite of the common name, this is not the Basil of Italian and Mediterranean cooking--that is Ocimum.

1. Leaves mostly more than 5 mm broad, ovate to narrowly lanceolate; branches of

Perennial herbs, often with creeping rhizomes. Stems erect to decumbent, simple or branched. Herbage usually aromatic. Leaves sessile to petiolate, commonly punctate, ovate or lanceolate to elliptic, marginally serrate or less commonly crenate. Flowers in verticils at most of the nodes, towards the ends of the inflorescence the whorls crowded and the inflorescence resembling a dense or interrupted spike. Bracts of inflorescence foliaceous or reduced and similar to the bracteoles subtending individual flowers. Calyx campanulate to cylindrical or tubular, 10-(13-) nerved, 5-lobed, regular to weakly bilabiate. Corolla generally pale purple, pink, or whitish, slightly bilabiate, the upper lip entire or emarginate and the lower lip 3-lobed, the lobes rounded or obtuse, OR the corolla nearly regular, 4-lobed, with one lobe slightly larger. Stamens 4, nearly equal, erect, exserted (or included and nonfunctional in plants of hybrid and cultivated origin), of 2 kinds as to fertility in some species, filaments glabrous, anther sacs parallel. Stigma lobes equal. Cocci ovoid to ellipsoid, usually smooth, brownish, not produced by some cultivated species.

About 25 species and hybrids in temperate regions of the world; 4 in TX (1 native and 3 naturalized); the 3 naturalized species are possible around old homesites. (Some species are aggressive and invasive and will persist for years where planted.)

This genus includes the familiar garden mints--peppermint, spearmint, applemint, etc. Many have culinary or medicinal uses.

1. Leaves more or less tomentose on both surfaces; upper stem leaves sessile .......................

A natural hybrid between M. longifolia (L.) L. and M. suaveolens Ehrh.

This is the mint used to flavor candies, gum, toothpaste, teas, ice cream, liqueurs, juleps, etc. Peppermint tea has anitflatulent properties and is also useful in soothing upset stomachs and cramps. It is thought to be a naturally occurring hybrid between M. spicata L. and M. aquatica L. (Mabberley 1987). Very similar to spearmint, M. spicata L. (see NOTE below).

Used for flavoring candies, ice cream, gum, tea, etc., and in various herbal remedies.

NOTE: Very similar to M. x piperita; best distinguished by the different leaf shape, smaller calyx, and longer floral bracts.

Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, the perennials spreading by rhizomes. Herbage generally pubescent or hispid. Leaves petiolate to sessile (ours usually with at least the lower leaves petiolate), entire to crenate or serrate. Flowers in verticils or axillary clusters, the inflorescence appearing to be a compact or interrupted terminal spike or raceme; flowers sometimes also in the axils of the upper leaves. Lower bracts of the inflorescence large and leaflike, upper ones much reduced; bracteoles present beneath each flower or absent. Calyx regular or nearly so, usually campanulate, 5- to 10-(15-) nerved, 5-toothed, the teeth equal and more or less spreading, often spiny-tipped. Corolla generally reddish to purplish or pink, bilabiate, the tube slender and about as long as or slightly longer than the calyx, upper lip erect, straight or somewhat arched or galeate, entire or shallowly emarginate, lower lip spreading or deflexed, longer than the upper lip, 3-lobed, the middle lobe much larger than the later ones and itself sometimes 2-lobed. Stamens 4, didynamous, ascending and arched under the upper lip, anther sometimes contiguous in pairs, the sacs of each anther divergent. Style equally 2-cleft, the lobes subulate. Cocci ovoid or oblong, obtuse, sometimes weakly 3-ribbed, usually smooth.

About 300 species in the temperate and warm regions of the world, with several scattered also in S. Afr. and S. Amer.; 6 in TX; only 1 found here.

Some European and Eurasian species are somewhat shrubby, some have medicinal value (Betony), some have edible tubers, and some are grown as ornamentals (Lamb's Ears) (Mabberley 1987).

1. S. crenata Raf. Hedge-nettle, Shade Betony. Hirsute annual or biennial; stems to ca. 3 dm tall, branched at the base, decumbent to erect, internodes often much longer than the leaves. Lowermost leaves with petioles about equalling the blades, the upper most sessile; blades ovate to oblong, to ca. 4 cm long, obtuse, basally truncate or cordate, decidedly crenate. Flower clusters few-flowered, pedicels 1 to 2 mm long; bracts ovate to nearly orbicular, subulate-tipped to mucronate. Calyx 3 to 5 mm long, the lobes generally shorter than the tube, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, glabrous above the middle, with spiny subulate tips; corolla pinkish lavender, or pink to blue or rarely white, upper lip bearded and the rest glabrous, lower lip 3-lobed, the lobes rounded or the middle one very slightly emarginate. Cocci granular, ca. 1 mm long. In shaded areas, preferring rocky or gravelly soils; woods, ravines, and prairies, also banks and open grounds, sometimes weedy. E., Cen., and S. TX; also N. Mex. Feb.-May, occasionally collected again in Sept. [S. agraria of authors, but not S. agraria Cham. & Schlecht., which is a separate species. Many old specimens from our area, however, were originally identified as S. agraria Cham. & Schlecht.]

Many specimens collected locally in the 1940's were misidentified as Mentha arvensis L.; incorrectly identified plants can still be found in some herbaria.

Annual or perennial herbs, some (but not ours) shrubs. Stems square, herbage often aromatic. Leaves cauline, or in one species largely basal, generally toothed or lobed. Flowers in few-flowered whorls forming contracted or interrupted spike-like inflorescences. Bracteoles present or absent. Calyx bilabiate, campanulate, 10- to 15-nerved, the upper lip entire or 3-cuspidate or 3-toothed, straight or somewhat arched, lower lip 2-lobed or -toothed. Corolla zygomorphic, 2-lipped, rather tubular, pubescent externally and glabrous within, usually some shade of red, blue, or white, upper lip straight and emarginate to galeate and entire, lower lip about twice as long as the upper, 3-lobed. Stamens only two, exserted from the corolla tube, ascending under the upper lip and exserted beyond the limb or included within the galea; connective well-developed and articulating with the filament, each filament with only one fertile anther sac on the upper branch, lower br