Justicia phlebodes Leonard & Gentry

Daniel, Thomas F., 2019, New and Reconsidered Mexican Acanthaceae XIII. Justicia, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 66 (3), pp. 61-85 : 83

Justicia phlebodes Leonard & Gentry

MEXICO. Nayarit: along route 28 between Tepic and Jalcacatlan [Nay rte. 66 or Mex. rte. 76 and Jalcocotán on recent maps], between KM 14 and KM 15 , [ca. 21°31′47.25′′N, 105° 02′0.74′′W], ca. 1000 m, 7-I-1979 (flr, frt), T. Croat 45204 ( MO); Tepic , 5-I–6-II 1892 (flr), E. Palmer 2007 ( US).

These two collections from west-central Nayarit are the first records of J. phlebodes from the state, extend the distribution of the species ca. 225 km south of its nearest known locale in southern Sinaloa, and closely resemble conspecifics from other regions of northwestern Mexico. Indeed, the 2-aperturate pollen with 2–2.5 rows of insulae (to peninsulae) of Croat 45204 matches pollen previously noted for the species ( Daniel 2004). These collections from Nayarit differ from/augment information in Daniel’s (2004) description of plants occurring to the north only in the following minor (and mostly continuous) characteristics: bracteoles up to 7 mm long and down to 0.3 mm wide; corolla ± infundibuliform with the tube slightly expanding ca. 4 mm distal to the base and thence slightly expanded toward the mouth, the upper lip up to 11 mm long, and the lower lip up to 11.5 mm long with lobes up to 5 mm long; and the gap between the two anther thecae down to 0.2 mm long, and the lower theca with a basal appendage down to 0.1 mm long. The species has been reported previously from Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, and Sinaloa ( Daniel 2004).