Slatsz' plant photo-biography: Microsteris gracilis, slender phlox; Polemoniaceae

10/26/2014 11:51 AM

Microsteris gracilis, slender phlox; Polemoniaceae, the phlox family

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Delange.org is a one time source. It may or may not have credibility. Probably not. They say genus Microsteris is thought by some to stand alone, that it is not Polemoniaceae. I’m not sure if they are also saying there is only one species in the genus, Microsteris gracilis.

According to Colorado Wildflowers, seeds from M. gracilis were collected by David Douglas near “… the banks of the Spoken River, and on high grounds near the Flathead River …”.

Colorado Wildflowers is often my only source for etymology: Microsteris is Greek for “small stem” and “gracilis” is Latin for “slender”.

I was surprised to notice that this is the first annual of the native flowers, and anthesis is not till mid-May. I thought I’d remind myself that I know what anthesis means – the period of its blossoming. As I try to think about what else is out there I think there are very, very few native plants in the park that are not perennials. I remember reading that one of the plants already studied was a biennial or ‘short term perennial’. [Draba verna is annual. Burke says it is introduced, others say it’s native.]

M. gracilis occurs in most counties of Washington State, on both sides of the Cascade mountains. It occurs throughout Western USA, across the Rocky Mountains onto the great plains. It occurs in South America and Eurasia.

Apparently it has several to many different looks. Some call it ‘midget phlox’. Most sources say it grows about a foot high. Colorado Wildflowers calls it tiny and their photos suggest it is a couple of inches high. It may be branched or un-branched, the branching may be high or low. It may be decumbent [grow along the ground, the apex curving up].

In the course of the research on other Polemoniaceae family plants I ran into an unidentified plant later in the year that might be midget phlox and might be stunted Microseris gracilis. The photo is from a month later but, as I recall, M. gracilis is very long … has a very long anthesis. Damn. Wrong word. Anthesis refers to the blooming time of a particular plant, right? I wonder if the botanists have a nice name for the extent of the blooming time for the species. It would be nice to be able to say that one can see M. gracilis in bloom, in Drumheller Springs Park, for [arbitrary number] 2 weeks beginning about mid May if May has been warm. So many things to pay attention to, so little time.

The photo below is the stranger. Note that the clustered leaves are at the base of the plant rather than high up. Later photos will show clusters of leaves high on its plant.

There is much talk of subspecies and varieties of M. gracilis and, there seems to be some confusion about that.

Burke has a long list of ‘Synonyms’, including:

var. gracilis

ssp. gracilis

var. humilor

ssp. humilor

and

ssp. humilis

I don’t know the difference between a subspecies and a variety. Perhaps I will someday.

Colorado Wild flowers speaks of red lower leaves. The lower leaves on my plant photos are faded, dry. But the front page photo for P. gracilis in Burke has a plant with red orange leaves down low.

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The sources say the lower leaves are opposite, two to a node, and the upper leaves are alternate, one to a node.

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P. gracilis is often branched. Paul Slichter says the height of the branching identifies verities of ‘midget phlox’. He uses this common name for M. gracilis. And some of his photos are of very short plants compared to those in Drumheller Springs Park.

Variety gracilis plants usually un-branched, if branched, branches from upper half of the stem.

Variety humilior, much branched, the branching beginning on the lower half of the plants.

This may be a later stage of the plants in photos above with the branches lengthened.

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The corolla is 5 petals fused into a tube with 5 flattened, flaring lobes. The tube is sometimes quite yellow, sometimes rather white, the lobes are pink in my photos, Burke says they can be lavender.

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The sources say the flowers are often in pairs. My photos have two flowers at the apex but one is in bloom and the other is faded, as if it was an indeterminate inflorescence, the faded flower superseded by the blooming flower.

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The petals are usually notched. They are all notched in my photos.

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E-FORA BC says there are single axillary flowers. [Apical flowers at the apex, the tip of the stem. Axillary flowers in the axis of leaves, therefore, at nodes … growing points along the flower stalk where leaves, branches and flowers rise.]

I don’t have a photo of an axillary flower in bloom but the photo below seems to have a flower developing from an axil.

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E-FLORA BC says: “…calyces 5-10 mm long, glandular-hairy, with 5 green ribs separated by membranous tissue that is ruptured by the ripening capsule, the slender teeth about as long as the tube.”

The leaves are glandular as well. You can see the glands supported on long stalks. The stalks are, of course, trichomes … ‘hairs’.

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I have no photos of stamen or pistil. I have no photos of the fruit. The fruit is said to be a capsule so it is dehiscent, it opens on maturity.

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Photos from other websites:

Robert L. Carr Photos of Microsteris Gracilis:

http://web.ewu.edu/ewflora/Polemoniaceae/Microsteris%20gracilis.html

Gerald D. Carr Photos of Microsteris Gracilis:

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/ofp/phl_gra.htm

Paul Slichter photos of Microsteris Gracilis:

http://science.halleyhosting.com/nature/gorge/5petal/phlox/phlox/mphlox.htm

Paul Slichter calls M. gracilis ‘midget phlox’. Some of the plants in his photos look much shorter than plants in other photos of Microsteris gracilis. But he says the species grows to be about a foot high.

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I identified 4 species of the Polemoniaceae family in Drumheller Springs park.

They don’t look alike.

Microsteris gracilis, slender phlox

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