| Abstract Detail
Systematics/Phytogeography / Taxonomie/ Section Grace, Lyndsey N [1], Brunell, Mark S [1]. Morphological intergradation of Monardella odoratissima and M. villosa in the North Coast Range of California, U.S.A. The two most widely distributed species in the genus Monardella are M. odoratissima, occurring in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Californian North Coast Range, Cascades, Great Basin and Rocky Mountains, and M. villosa, which occurs throughout the Coast Ranges of California and Southwestern Oregon. Both species are highly variable morphologically and are represented by several subspecies. Traditionally, the texture, position, and pubescence of the floral bracts and the amount, distribution and type of leaf, stem, and calyx pubescence have been used to differentiate the two species, however there is evidence that populations in the North Coast Range of California combine the bract and pubescence characters of the two species, resulting in a zone of intergradation, but the specimens from this region has not been well characterized. In this study, mapping of specimens in this zone combined with morphological analysis of largely vegetative characters, including SEM analysis of trichome diversity, density, and morphology, is used to characterize the pattern and extent of intergradation and to reevaluate the taxonomic separation of the species. Preliminary results suggest that the diagnostic characters for the species are combined in several complex patterns in this region, making species separation problematic. The taxonomic implications of these data will be discussed in relation to the taxonomic problems in other species of perennial Monardella in California.
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1 - University of the Pacific, Biological Sciences, 3601 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA, 95211, USA
Keywords:
Monardella
Species complex
Trichomes
morphology.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 55
Location: 177/Law
Date: Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM
Number: 55012
Abstract ID:315 |
