ASCLEPIAS HIRTELLA (APOCYNACEAE) NEWLY DOCUMENTED FOR THE FLORA OF TEXAS

2008·1.5 MB·English

by  Matt White

ASCLEPIAS HIRTELLA (APOCYNACEAE)
NEWLY DOCUMENTED
FOR THE FLORA TEXAS
OF
Matt White
Woodson
Asdepias was
hirtella (Pennell) not reported Texas by and Johnson
for Correll Jones
(1970), et
al.
(1997), Diggs et al. (1999), or Turner et al. (2003). Recent field work at Camp Maxey, a Texas Army National
Guard Lamar
facility in County, has revealed the presence of the species in open Schizachyrium scoparium
grassland, where it was rare (Fig. 1). The plants were growing in soils mapped as Bernaldo fine sandy loam,
brown,
"a slightly acid fine sandy loam" found on the "tops and sides of ridges" (Ressell 1979), situated atop
an underlying geology Blossom Sand Common
of (Shelby
et 1966). forb associates included
al. Solidago
nitida,
Vernonia texana, Liatris ekgans var. elegans, Polygala incarnata, and Rudbeckia
hirta.
Asdepias and
hirtella the closely related A. longifolia are in the subgenus Acerates Woodson. Asdepias
(Ell.)
hirtella is "a species of Midwestern prairies and barrens" (Weakley 2007) and grows bottomland
in
as well
upland
as and
prairies, glades, pastures, roadsides
railroads (Yatskievych 2006). occurs from Georgia
It to
Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, southern Ontario, West Virginia and Tennessee. Asdepias
longi-
by
folia, contrast, occurs along the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plain (Woodson 1954) from southeast Texas
through southern Delaware. Turner mapped
et al. (2003) collections of A. from Newton,
longifolia Jasper,
Hardin, and
Tyler, Liberty Galveston counties as well as what he considered a very disjunct collection from
An
Fannin
County. examination of the Fannin County specimen
indicates that it is actually A. hirtella, as
an additional Henderson County
is collection cited below. These specimens suggest the species rare in
is
northern and
eastern Texas.
This species appears to occur with more regularity in nearby Oklahoma and has been
collected several
times in nearby McCurtain, Pushmataha and Atoka
counties (Pennell 1919; Hoagland Mc-
et 2004). In
al.
&
Curtain County the species found Red and Grassy Slough Red
is at in the River Valley (Hoagland Johnson
both which
2004), of are very close Texas.
to
The Woodson
following taken from
key, should
(1954), allow these similar species be
to identified:
Inflorescences numerous, and dense and
lateral, nearly spherical, the flowers very slightly tinted with purple-
plants relatively stout
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Army
Katherine
Crosthwaite of the Texas National Guard and
t
would
site. especially like to thank both Walter Holmes and
I
.
Barney Lipscomb, whose
careful
improved manu-
editing greatly the
Amanda
found
script. Neill the
from Henderson County.
collection
thanks Carr
Special to Bill for track-
down
and
ing the Correll Correll
specimen from Fannin County and
manuscript. Joe Jackson, a librarian
at Paris Junior College, for helping
with
interlibrary loans.
REFERENCES
Correll, D.S. and M.C. Johnston. 1970.
Manual
of the vascular plants of
Texas. University ofTexas at Dallas,
Richardson.
G.M. and
Diggs, Jr., B.L. Lipscomb, R.J.
&
O'Kennon. 999. Shinners Mahl-
1
of north cen-
er's illustrated flora
Texas, Botanical Research
tral
HOAGLAND
B.W., A.K. BUTHOD, BUTLER,
I.H.
RH.C
Crawford, A.H. Udasi,WJ. Eus-
Oklahoma
and 2004.
ens, R.J. Tyrl.
vascular plants database (http://
Oklahoma
geo.ou.edu/botanical),
Biological Survey, University of
Oklahoma, Norman.
Hoagland, B.W. and Johnson. 2004.
n Lamar County, Texas, 17 Aug 2007 (Matt White F.
The Red and
vascular of
flora
Slough Man-
Grassy Wildlife
agement
Areas, Gulf Coastal
McCurtain County, Oklahoma. Castanea 69:284-296.
Plain,
comprehensive
Jones, S.D., J.K. Wipff, and P.M. Montgomery. 1997. Vascular plants ofTexas: a checklist including
synonymy, bibliography, and index. University ofTexas Press, Austin.
84-1
Pennell F.W. 1919. Plants of southern United States. Bull.Torrey Bot. Club. 46:1 85.
Ressel, D. 979. Soil survey of Lamar and Delta counties, Texas. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College
1
Station.
Shelby, C.A., M.K. Pieper, D.E. Owen, TJ. Freeman, A.C. Wright, and V.E. Barnes. 966. Geologic atlas ofTexas, Texarkana
1
sheet. Bureau of Economic Geology, The University ofTexas at Austin.
O
Turner, B.L, H. Nichols, G. Denny, and Dorcn. 2003. Atlas of the vascular plants ofTexas. Vol. Sida, Bot. Misc.
1
.
24:1-648.
Weakly, A.S. 2007. Flora of the Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and surrounding areas, working draft as of January
1 1
2007. http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm
Woodson, 954. The North American species of Asclepias. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 41 :1-21
R.E., Jr.
1 1
Department
Yaiskievych, G. 2006. Steyermark's flora of Missouri. Vol 2. Missouri of Conservation, Jefferson City.