Aliciella monoensis J.M.Porter

Porter, J. Mark, 2011, Two new Aliciella species and a new subspecies in Ipomopsis (Polemoniaceae) from the western United States of America, Phytotaxa 15, pp. 15-25 : 16-18

Aliciella monoensis J.M.Porter & A.G.Day, sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 )

Planta annua, erecta , glandulifer. Folia basalia et cauline, lineara-oblonga, dentata, pinnatifida , loba ad angulum 90 ad rachis mucronata . Corolla infundibuliformis, tubo 1.5–1.8 × plo calycem, alba liniis violacea . Capsula calyce equiis. Semina 21-36 per capsulam. Chromosomatum numerum n= 8.

Type:— J.M. Porter & L.E.Machen 12239, U.S.A., California, Mono County, 4.3 km S of the intersection of California Hwy 120 and U.S. Hwy 395 (S of Lee Vining), and 0.4 km W of 395 on Oil Plant Road ; 37.916722° N, 119.101696° W; ca. 2060 m.; juniper-sagebrush community; 27 May 2000. (holotype: RSA; isotypes: CAS, UC) .

Annual plants, 4.8–30(–40) cm tall, with a taproot. Stems glandular pubescent with uniseriate viscid trichomes bearing a single terminal cell (frequently with sand grains adhering), erect, openly branching to the base. Basal leaves forming a more or less flattened rosette, 1.0– 7 cm long, 1.5–20.0 mm wide, spatulate, obovate, oblanceolate to lanceolate in outline, dentate to more often pinnate-lobed, the lobes entire or toothed, antrorse to spreading at nearly right angles, rachis usually narrower than the length of the lobes, glandular pubescent on both surfaces, the lobes and apex acute to rounded, cuspidate or mucronate. Cauline leaves pinnatifid to mostly entire, gradually to more commonly abruptly reduced in size, grading into bracts, and glandular puberulent. Inflorescence open, diffusely branching, cymose-panicle, the distal branching sympodial, pedicels of cymes dimorphic, the terminal flower subsessile or on pedicels 2.5–5.5 mm, the lateral flower (if present) on pedicels to 14.0 mm long. Calyx short cylindrical to campanulate, with green costae (lobes) alternating with white-hyaline portion, fused producing the tube, often anthocyanic, 2.0– 3.5 mm long, tube 1.1–2.8 mm long at anthesis, glandular with uniseriate trichomes bearing a uni- or multicellular terminal gland, the free portion of the lobes 0.5–1.2 mm long. Corolla (3–) 4.5–7 mm long, narrowly funnelform, somewhat constricted just above mid-tube, but conspicuously flaring toward the orifice, glabrous externally; tube (2.0–)3.0– 6.2 mm long, lower tube white, the upper tube white, yellowish or bearing 5 pale yellow spots; lobes lance-elliptic to oblanceolate, 1.2–3.0 mm long, 1.5–2.2 mm wide, white to lavender. Stamens equally inserted at the sinuses of the corolla lobes, the free portion 0.5–1.0 mm long, anthers 0.3–0.9 mm long, slightly exserted; pollen white. Nectary an undulate disc at the base of the ovary. Ovary ovoid to oblongoid, glabrous, 1.0–2.0 mm long, style 2.2–4.5 mm, stigmatic lobes 0.3–0.7 mm long, mature capsule 3–5 mm long, ovoid to oblongoid, apex acute, twice as long as the fruiting calyx; locules 3. Seeds 7–12 per locule, 0.6–0.9 mm long, ovoid, roughened, not winged, golden brown to tan, not mucilaginous when wet. 2 n =16 ( Day 1993 b).

Distribution:— Aliciella monoensis occurs from the region around Mono Lake, Mono County, California, south along Owens Valley, the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the lower slopes of the White Mountains, to Barstow, San Bernardino County, California, and east to Rhodes Well, Clark County, north nearly to Wendover, Elko County, Nevada. In Mono County, California and Mineral County, Nevada it is relatively abundant, but in other portions of its range, A. monoensis is uncommon. This range incorporates both the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert, but it is slightly more abundant in the Great Basin.

Phenology:—Flowering begins in May and continues through June or rarely to early July. Fruiting begins in mid-May and lasts through July.

Etymology:—The specific epithet, monoensis , refers to the type locality, Mono Lake, California.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):— U.S.A. CALIFORNIA. INYO COUNTY: Pine Creek Road, ca. 2 mi W Round Valley, sandy flats, base of hills, 4500 ft, 13 June 1953, V.Grant & A.Grant 9248 ( RSA); ca. 17 air mi SSE Olancha, ca. 2.2 mi E Coso Jct, on 2 nd powerline road, T22S, R38E, S6, 3400 ft, 6 May 1979, J.Henrickson & E.Lee 17980 ( RSA); Owens Valley, E of Black Rock Springs, T12S, R35E, S6, 3810 ft, 6 May 1974, M.DeDecker 3436 ( RSA); 3.4 mi N 12 degrees W; drainage NE of Wyman Creek, Deep Springs Valley drainage, White Mountains Deep Spgs College White Mountains, 37.4276009° -117.99330°, 6100 ft, 29 Apr 1986, J.D.Morefield & D.H.McCarty 3546 ( RSA, UC); Bishop Highway, 3.8 mi N Big Pine, 3950 ft, 22 May 1969, E.C.Twisselmann 15528 ( RSA); volcanic tableland, near Owens River Gorge, 5500 ft, 30 May 1933, V.Duran 3443 ( RSA); China Lake Naval Weapons Center, S Coso Hot Springs, SE qtr S4, T22S, R39E, 3640 ft, 7 May 1978, R.L.Zembal 399 (RSA). KERN COUNTY: Fremont Valley, sand dunes at S end Koehn Lake, 1900 ft, 16 Apr 1959, E.C.Twisselmann 5054 ( RSA); Red Rock Canyon, 2500 ft, 12 Apr 1966, E.C.Twisselmann 11911 (RSA); Sierra Nevada, Owens Peak, eastern watershed, Short Canyon, 35.7104°N - 117.8833°W, 1037 m, 8 Apr 2003, N.Fraga 526 ( RSA); lower part of Short Canyon, loose sand of quarry, 28 Apr 1958, A.Grant 10113 (RSA); mouth of Short Canyon, sands, 28 Apr 1958, A.Grant 10112 ( RSA); mouth of Short Canyon, NW Inyokern, 20 Apr 1954, V.Grant & A.Grant 9338 (RSA); Tehachapi Mountains, slopes west of Walker Pass along Hwy 178, 4500 ft, 35.663° -118.02°, 14 Apr 2003, E.Dean, T.Starbuck & M.Starbuck 1636 (UCD). MONO COUNTY: along hwy 395, N of Mono Lake, 0.9 mi E of mile marker 5.50 of Mono County road 167; 38° 04’ 39.6” N, 119° 03’ 14.3” W, ca. 6500 ft, 21 May 2001, J.M. Porter 12799 ( RSA); Poaha Island, Mono Lake, sandy slope of volcanic crater, 6480 ft, 24 Apr 1975, M.DeDecker 3780 (RSA); slopes above Mono Craters, along the road to Benton, open, dry, deep, loose sandy slopes, 7000 ft, 5 Jul 1955, V.Grant & A.Grant 9749 ( RSA); 19 mi NW Benton, rocky gorge, 7100 ft, 9 Jul 1938, F.W.Peirson 12615 (RSA, UC); Glass Mountain region, Klondike Canyon, ca. 0.5 mi SW hwy 120, 37° 51.432’ N, 118° 36.805’ W, 2085 m, 26 May 2001, M.Honer 672A ( RSA); Glass Mountain region, North Canyon, ca. 750 m S hwy 120, 37° 53.163’ N, 118° 45.704’ W, 2134 m, 4 Jun 2001, M.Honer 810 (RSA); Glass Mountain region, W of Banner Springs, ca. 2.4 km S Wildrose Summit, 37° 41.168’ N, 118° 35.863’ W, 2250 m, 6 Jun 2001, M.Honer 890, 891 ( RSA); 4 mi N Mono Mills; S of Mono Lake, 6800 ft, 30 Jun 1934, L.R.Abrams and D.D.Keck 2884 (POM, UC); along highway 31 (Pole Line Road), 3 mi E Highway 395, 38.0621° -119.1114°, 6500 ft, 9 Jun 1962, J.L.Reveal & J.L.Reveal 110 (RSA, UC); along road to Bodie, N of Mono Lake, 13 Jul 1941, H.L.Mason 12485 (JEPS, POM, UC); Rock Creek, 5 m N Sherwin Grade, sandy benches, 21 June 1928, P.A.Munz 11076 (POM); S of Rock Creek and 0.5 mi W hwy 395, sandy flat, 7200 ft, 14 Jun 1953, V.Grant & A.Grant 9250 ( RSA); Chiatovitch Creek; White Mountains, 8300 ft, 23 Jun 1932, V. Duran M9 (UC); desert by Mono Lake, 6900 ft, 5 Jul 1920, A.M.Ottley 1109 (UC, JEPS); scattered on open dry hills between Whisky Creek and Crooked Creek, Owens River, 6700 ft, 29 Jul 1938, F.W.Peirson 10725 (RSA, UC); just below Tom’s Place, Rock Creek, 6800 ft, 25 Jun 1925, F.W.Peirson 6072 ( RSA, UC); SE side of Mono Lake, Inyo National Forest Mono Mills Mono Basin, Inyo National Forest, 37.9181° -118.93361°, 6800 ft, 18 Jul 1995, D.W.Taylor 15227 (JEPS); near Farrington’s Ranch, below Leevining, 6800 ft, 30 June 1951, P.H.Raven 3126 (RSA);. SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY: along U.S. Highway 91 about 5 mi E, (Cronese Valley), Mohave Desert, 1500 ft, 19 Apr 1952, G.T.Robbins & R.Bacigalupi 3429 (JEPS); Barstow, Mohave Desert, Apr 26 1935, W.L.Jepson 17205a (JEPS); Mohave Desert, Barstow, sand, 2100 ft, 12 Apr 1920, M.F.Spencer 1568 (POM); Barstow, 20 Apr 1921, E.C.Jaeger 1090 (POM); Mohave Desert, SE end of Kelso Dunes, 7 mi S Kelso, on Amboy Road, 2500 ft, 1 May 1941, C.B.Wolf 10222 ( RSA); Kelso Dunes, off powerline road, S side of dunes, Bull Canyon Wash, 25 Mar 1988, W.Wisura 4208 ( RSA); 30 air mi SE Baker, 5 mi SW Kelso, 2125 ft, 28 Apr 1973, J.Henrickson 9345 ( RSA); black lavas, N of Pisgah Crater, 11 Apr 1952, H.L.Mason 14256 ( RSA, UC); just E of Daggett, Black Lava Bed, 11 Apr 1952, H.L.Mason 14249 (UC); Mohave Desert, Providence Mts., 0.5 mi SSE Kelso on road to Cornfield Spring, ca. 2200 ft, 28 Apr 1973, A.Whittingham & R.F.Thorne 43161C ( RSA); Mohave Desert, Alvord Mtns., Alvord Well, near 35.05519° N, 116.62590°W, 622 m, 24 Mar 2008, L.Gross 2951 ( RSA); Mohave Desert, Poison Canyon, SW of Searles Lake, 30 Apr 1935, H.L.Mason 8287 (UC); Mohave Desert, Trona, mouth of Poison Canyon, (Salt Wells Canyon), 14 Apr 1940, A.M.Alexander & L.Kellogg 1048 (UC); on road to Lancaster 4 mi w of Adelanto, Mohave Desert, 2800 ft, 25 Apr 1949, P.A.Munz 13077 ( RSA, UC); Waterman Mine (N of Barstow), May 1884, J.G.Lemmon 188 (JEPS). NEVADA. CLARK COUNTY: 2 mi N Rhodes Well, sandy desert, 22 Apr 1940, C.L.Hitchcock 6170 ( RSA). ELKO COUNTY: Antelope Valley, 63.6 km S of Wendover, 32 km 87° E of Currie and Pass, adjacent to Dolly Varden turnoff, T28N, R67E, S26, 1700 m, 2 Jun 1984, N. H.Holmgren & P.K.Holmgren 10367 (BRY). ESMERALDA COUNTY: SW of volcanic hills, Columbia Salt Marsh drainage, T1N, R34E, SW qtr S2, 6000 ft, 2 Jun 1981, M.DeDecker 5211 ( RSA). MINERAL COUNTY: Rough Creek Rd. (Forest Rd 028) between Hawthorne & Bridgeport, junction of rd to China Camp, ca. 1 mi W of Nine Mile Ranch, W of Fletcher, T6N, R27E, S9, 6000 ft, 11 Jun 1980, B.Ertter & J.Strachan 3683 (BRY).

Discussion:— Aliciella Brand (1907) was expanded by Porter (1998) to incorporate those species of Gilia Ruiz & Pav. that, among other traits, lack a copious mucilage coat when the seeds are wetted. This lineage is only distantly related to Gilia (e.g., Johnson et al. 1996; Porter 1997). Aliciella sect. Aliciella is a lineage composed exclusively of rosette-forming annual species of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions of the United States. The majority of species in sect. Aliciella are small-flowered; however, A heterostyla ( Cochrane & Day 1994: 120) J.M. Porter (1998: 37) , and A. nyensis ( Reveal 1969: 480) J.M. Porter (1998: 36) have moderately large flowers. Aliciella monoensis is a member of this section.

Aliciella monoensis has historically been confused with A. subacaulis , and these two species are morphologically similar. Both have relatively small flowers, with an hourglass-shaped corolla tube and the lobes are lanceolate, lacking a cusp ( Fig. 1A ). Both species have basal leaves that are lobed with a rachis that is narrower than the length of the lobes ( Fig. 1B ). There are five lines of evidence that provide support for the hypothesis that A. monoensis is an evolutionary lineage independent of A. subacaulis . Corolla morphometric analyses (Porter and De Groot, submitted) demonstrate that corolla form differs significantly between A. monoensis and A. subacaulis . In general, the corolla and filaments of A. monoensis are longer (0.5–1.0 mm) than those of A. subacaulis (0.3–0.7 mm). In addition, the corolla of A. monoensis is more narrowly funnelform than that of A. subacaulis , which is short and broadly funnelform. Likewise, the leaf lobes of A. monoensis are entire or toothed, while those of A. subacaulis are entire. The architecture of the two species is markedly different. Aliciella monoensis has a primary axis that is longer than the lateral branches, bearing many nodes ( Fig. 1C ). By contrast, A. subacaulis possesses a short primary axis, composed of as few as four nodes above the basal rosette, with lateral branches overtopping the primary axis. Phylogenetic analyses support the segregation. Aliciella monoensis shares common ancestry with A. nyensis , based on independent analyses of both the chloroplast trnL -trnF region and the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) DNA sequences (Porter and De Groot, submitted). By contrast, chloroplast DNA sequences infer A. subacaulis as sister species to A. heterostyla , while nrITS DNA sequences infer common ancestry with A. micromeria (A. Gray 1870: 279) J.M. Porter (1998: 40). The different placement of A. subacaulis in chloroplast and nuclear phylogenies can be explained by the fact that it is a tetraploid species, 2n= 34. This too serves to differentiate it from A. monoensis , which is a diploid (n = 8; Day 1993).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A. Two views of the flower and reduced cyme of Aliciella monoensis, scale= 3.0 mm, J.M.Porter & L.E.Machen 12797 (Photo J. M. Porter). B. Basal rosette of leaves, illustrating narrow rachis, scale= 2.0 cm, J.M.Porter & L.E.Machen 12797 (Photo J. M. Porter). C. Habit and architecture of Aliciella monoensis, scale= 5.0 cm, J.M.Porter & L.E.Machen 12797 (Photo J. M. Porter).