crediblecorvid's Journal

Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Genus Lappula Moench (Boraginaceae) in North America, by Susan Rolfsmeier

Thanks @aspidoscelis for finding this! It contains a useful key, among other things.

Thanks to @ericlopresti for this Simple Key to Living Abronia and Tripterocalyx.

Leaving this here for future reference.

Taxonomy of the Genus Vesper, Hartman and Nesom 2012

I recently found a great resource for New Mexico Ants. Thorough, well written, it's just a joy.

From a conversation with Patrick Alexander.

... if you try to map written descriptions onto individuals, it’s difficult. If you try to recognize taxa first and assign names afterward, it works better. Most misidentifications seem to come from mostly seeing one taxon (in most of NM, Descurainia pinnata subsp. ochroleuca) and then trying to map the variation in that taxon onto the written descriptions (rather than saying to oneself: These probably all look like the same thing because they are the same thing. And that class of error is very common across taxa).

Leaving this here for future reference:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362130443_An_overview_of_New_Mexican_Boechera_Brassicaceae_including_three_new_species_and_thirteen_new_nomenclatural_combinations

Kelly Allred's Flora Neomexicana series is a great reference for the flora of New Mexico, including not only keys and distribution maps, but also in many cases the wonderful illustrations of Robert DeWitt Ivy. Hard copies can be ordered from Lulu press, and Dr. Allred has also made everything freely available in pdf form at his web site. His contribution to the botany of New Mexico can hardly be overstated.

Flora Neomexicana Series Website

There's Phacelia coming up all over the place around here right now, and I've been thinking it's mostly P. crenulata, but P. integerifolia is also a possibility. So I chatted with @aspidoscelis about the vegetative characteristics that distinguish them. He had some very useful guidance that I'm leaving here for future reference. Note on taxonomy: P. corrugata has been treated with both species rank and as a variety of P. crenulata.

Phacelia crenulata & Phacelia corrugata: basal leaves usually flat against the ground (at least the older basal leaves; harder to tell after those have senesced, or in more shaded plants. Phacelia integrifolia: usually all basal leaves angled upward at something like 20-30° or more.

Depth of leaf lobing: shallowest in Phacelia integrifolia, deepest in Phacelia corrugata.

Ratio of leaf length to leaf width: highest in Phacelia crenulata, lowest in Phacelia integrifolia. Leaves of the Four Cornersy Phacelia integrifolia on iNat seem to be narrower than I’m used to, so the difference seems to be less pronounced.

Prominence of teeth on the margins of the lobes: lowest in Phacelia integrifolia, highest in Phacelia corrugata.

Also, Phacelia integrifolia is mostly (but of course not always) associated with sandy soils, at least until you get over to Phacelia integrifolia var. texana. Phacelia crenulata seems to like loamier stuff. I’m not sure what Phacelia corrugata does in this regard.

When flowering, you can also use anthers; those of Phacelia crenulata are yellow, those of Phacelia integrifolia are dark purplish (at least externally).

Having looked at a bunch of iNaturalist observations of Phacelia with those dimensions in mind, the distinction between P. crenulata and P. integerifolia now seems pretty clear based on leaf morphology in many (but not all) cases.

Flora of the Four Corners Region (Heil et al. 2013) says that Phacelia crenulata in the area of the San Juan River drainage covered by the Flora are all var. corrugata, though it seems likely that var. crenulata would also be here.

A very nicely digitized (and searchable) version is online at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Furniss, R. L., & Carolin, V. M. (1977). Western forest insects. Miscellaneous Publication no. 1339. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC, 654.

Spring parsley can't be wrong about spring, can it? It's in flower and lots of other plants are leafing out, including sego lilies and globemallow. I haven't seen any lizards yet, but I'm guessing they'll poke their heads out soon.