EcoFlora - Xyris

Xyris
Family: Xyridaceae	FNA Gleason & Cronquist Resources Robert Kral in Flora of North America (vol. 22) Herbs, perennial, occasionally annual, rosulate. Stems simple, erect, sometimes caudiciform, short to branching, elongate. Leaves alternate, 2-ranked, equitant; blade mostly linear to filiform, flattened to nearly terete, margins smooth to variously papillate or scabrous. Inflorescences: scapes variously elongate; spike bracts imbricate, the proximal sterile, decussate, distal ones fertile, in spiral [decussate], bearing medially, usually subapically, a distinct and mostly differently textured and colored 'dorsal area' or this indistinct or absent. Flowers solitary in bract axils; sepals 3, distinct, unequal, lateral (outer) sepals distinct [connate], chaffy, boat-shaped, chaffy, inner one membranous, capping corolla; keel papery, or scarious, variously winged, variously margined; petals 3, distinct [to connate], equal, strongly clawed; blade ephemeral, spreading, yellow to white; staminodes 3, distinct, strongly clawed, apically yoked, bearded with moniliform hairs (rarely reduced, beardless); stamens 3, epipetalous; anthers 2--4-locular; ovaries y thin-walled, placentation marginal to parietal [basal, free-central, axile]; styles elongate, tubular, 3-branched; stigmas 3, U-shaped or funnelform. Capsules 3-valved, usually thin, loculicidal. Seeds [1--]15--90 or more, mealy or translucent, ovoid to cylindric, 0.3--1(--4) mm, variously lined and cross-lined; endosperm starchy and proteinaceous; embryo basal-lateral, minute. x = 9. Most species of Xyris occur in the Guiana Highlands, Amazonia, and Brazilia in South America, with other smaller centers of endemism in Africa and Australasia. The key below is constructed to work with healthy plants that are in flower and/or fruit. Identifications based on sterile material are doubtful at best, then attempted only after long experience with such plants. In the descriptions, scapes are described as linear if, 1 cm below the spike, they are 1 mm or more wide, or as filiform if, at that level, they are less than 1 mm wide. Petal color is assumed to be yellow, although X. caroliniana and X. platylepis have white-petaled forms. Leaf widths or thicknesses are measured at widest or thickest part of blade. Spike measurements are taken from mature spikes, those having at least some ripe fruit. Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada Fls trimerous; anterior sep well developed, deciduous; pet distinct, with slender claw (hidden by the bract) and broad, yellow (white), toothed blade; staminodes present, bifid; placentas in most spp. (incl. ours) parietal, ±intruded distally; style- branches 3, alternate with the staminodes; seeds longitudinally lined. 250+, mainly warm reg. Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp. ©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Species within inventory project: Arizona Flora \|\| << 1 - 50 taxa >> Xyris aberdarica Images not available Map not Available Xyris affinis Images not available Map not Available Xyris albescens Images not available Map not Available Xyris almae Images not available Map not Available Xyris ambigua Map not Available Xyris anceps Map not Available Xyris angularis Images not available Map not Available Xyris angustifolia Images not available Map not Available Xyris anisophylla Images not available Map not Available Xyris apureana Images not available Map not Available Xyris aquatica Images not available Map not Available Xyris aracamunae Images not available Map not Available Xyris arachnoidea Images not available Map not Available Xyris araracuarae Images not available Map not Available Xyris archeri Images not available Map not Available Xyris arenicola Map not Available Xyris aristata Images not available Map not Available Xyris asperula Map not Available Xyris asterotricha Images not available Map not Available Xyris atrata Images not available Map not Available Xyris atriceps Images not available Map not Available Xyris aurea Images not available Map not Available Xyris bahiana Images not available Map not Available Xyris baldwiniana Map not Available Xyris bampsii Images not available Map not Available Xyris barteri Images not available Map not Available Xyris bayardii Map not Available Xyris bialata Images not available Map not Available Xyris bicarinata Map not Available Xyris bicephala $Image of Xyris bicephala$ Map not Available Xyris bicostata Images not available Map not Available Xyris bissei Map not Available Xyris boliviana Images not available Map not Available Xyris borneensis Map not Available Xyris brachyfolia Images not available Map not Available Xyris brachysepala Images not available Map not Available Xyris bracteata Map not Available Xyris bracteicaulis Images not available Map not Available Xyris brevifolia Map not Available Xyris bulbosa Map not Available Xyris byssacea Map not Available Xyris calcicola Map not Available Xyris calderonii Images not available Map not Available Xyris capensis Map not Available Xyris capillaris Images not available Map not Available Xyris capnoides Images not available Map not Available Xyris carinata Images not available Map not Available Xyris caroliniana Map not Available Xyris chapmanii Map not Available Xyris cheumatophila Images not available Map not Available