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Published In: Species Plantarum 1: 22–23. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/25/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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7. Monarda punctata L. (dotted beebalm, horsemint)

Pl. 438 c, d; Map 1973

Plants annual or perennial. Stems 15–50 cm long, unbranched or branched, moderately to densely pubescent with minute, downward-curved hairs, rarely with sparse to dense, longer, bristly spreading hairs (sometimes only at the nodes). Leaves sessile or the petioles to 15 mm long, the median leaves the largest. Leaf blades 2–9 cm long, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, rounded to more commonly angled or tapered at the base, angled or tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins with moderately to widely spaced, fine teeth, usually also hairy, the upper surface sparsely to moderately pubescent with minute, curved hairs, the undersurface sparsely to densely pubescent with minute, curled hairs, occasionally also with longer, somewhat woolly hairs along the main veins. Inflorescences consisting of (1)2–7 flower clusters forming an interrupted terminal spike (some of the lower clusters sometimes associated with relatively large bracteal leaves and thus appearing axillary), the bracts 15–40 mm long, oblong, elliptic, ovate, or obovate, the margins entire but hairy (at least near the base), the surfaces usually minutely hairy, whitish to pinkish- or purplish-tinged. Innermost bracts 3–8 mm long, linear, the margins hairy. Calyces 5–8 mm long, the outer surface sparsely to densely pubescent with minute, curled hairs, sometimes with sparse, longer hairs toward the tip, densely bristly-hairy in the throat, the lobes 1.0–1.5 mm long, triangular to narrowly triangular, sharply pointed but lacking a bristlelike extension. Corollas 15–28 mm long, cream-colored to pale yellow, sometimes pinkish-tinged, the lips with prominent purplish brown to maroon or brownish purple spots or mottling, moderately to densely pubescent with fine nonglandular hairs externally, also dotted with sessile glands, the lips with longer, denser hairs toward the tips, hairy in the throat, slightly shorter than the tube, the upper lip strongly arched downward, the lower lip 3-lobed with a pair of short lateral lobes and a flangelike, oblong (sometimes shallowly notched) extension at the tip of the central lobe. Stamens not exserted from the corolla, hidden under the upper corolla lip. Nutlets 1.2–1.5 mm long, usually brown. 2n=22, 24. June–October.

Uncommon, mostly in counties along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers (eastern U.S. west to Minnesota and New Mexico; Canada, Mexico). Sand prairies; also margins of crop fields, railroads, roadsides, and open disturbed areas; usually in sandy soil.

Monarda punctata consists of a messy and complicated series of morphologically overlapping infraspecific taxa. McClintock and Epling (1942) accepted eight subspecies, but reported only ssp. villicaulis Pennell from Missouri. Steyermark (1963) treated two varieties, var. villicaulis and var. occidentalis. Scora (1967) accepted eleven varieties and reported the same two taxa for Missouri as had Steyermark. In his study of the genus in Texas and Mexico, B. L. Turner (1994) raised four of the taxa treated earlier as subspecies or varieties to species level and also named a twelth variety endemic to southern Texas and adjacent Mexico. Thus, there is reason to believe that the dozen total taxa accepted in the M. punctata complex over the last few decades include at least six well defined entities (the five species accepted by B. L. Turner and his new variety), but the other six taxa include some varieties that exhibit a great deal of morphological overlap. Future taxonomic studies may show that most of these are better treated as a single polymorphic species, including the taxa reported from Missouri and accepted tentatively in the present work.

 


 

 
 
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