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Published In: Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 1(1): 82. 1783. (Encycl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 9/22/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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1. Styrax americanus Lam. (snowbell, American snowbell, mock orange)

S. americanus var. pulverulentus (Michx.) Rehder

Pl. 568 g, h; Map 2653

Plants shrubs to 4 m tall. Petioles 3–5 mm long. Leaf blades 1.5–10.0 cm long, mostly elliptic to oblong or ovate, rarely broadly elliptic to obovate, the margins entire or with small teeth scattered on each side, the upper surface glabrous, dark green to green, the undersurface glabrous or sparsely and minutely stellate-hairy at maturity (more densely hairy elsewhere), pale green. Inflorescences axillary, sometimes appearing terminal at the ends of short branches, clusters or less commonly short racemes of 2–5 flowers, sometimes of solitary flowers. Calyces (including the hypanthium) 2.5–4.0 mm long, the tube (hypanthium) obconic at flowering, sparsely stellate-hairy to nearly glabrous, shallowly 5-lobed, the lobes 0.5–1.0 mm long, triangular, sharply pointed. Corollas 10–16 mm long. Fruits (5–)8–10 mm long, 6–8 mm wide, subglobose to somewhat obovoid. 2n=16. April–May.

Uncommon in the Mississippi Lowlands Division (southeastern U.S. west to Missouri and Texas). Swamps and bottomland forests; also levees, ditches, and wet roadsides.

Steyermark (1963) noted that S. americanus is a very showy shrub when in flower and has been underutilized in Missouri landscaping, perhaps in part because the species requires a moist environment to reach its potential.

Gonsoulin (1974) separated plants with more persistently hairy foliage and slightly broader leaves as var. pulverulentus and cited a specimen collected by Julian Steyermark in Butler County as this variety. However, Steyermark (1963) himself had studied the situation earlier and concluded that the hairier variety did not occur in Missouri. Part of the disagreement stems from the fact that the differences between the varieties are not sufficient to permit formal taxonomic recognition and numerous intermediates with varying degrees of leaf pubescence exist.

 


 

 
 
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