Brintonia

Brintonia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Astereae
Genus: Brintonia
Greene
Species:
B. discoidea
Binomial name
Brintonia discoidea
(Elliott) Greene
Synonyms[1]
  • Solidago discoidea (Elliott) Torr. & A.Gray
  • Aster discoideus Elliott

Brintonia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, containing the single species Brintonia discoidea, named for Jeremiah Bernard Brinton.[2] It is known commonly as the rayless mock goldenrod.[3][4] It is native to the southeastern United States, where it is distributed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.[3][5]

Brintonia discoidea is a perennial herb growing up to 1.5 meters tall from a thick rhizome. The erect, unbranched stem is lightly hairy. The alternately arranged leaves have rough-haired serrated blades up to 10 centimeters long on winged petioles. The inflorescence is a wide array of several flower heads. Each head contains up to 20 disc florets with bright green tubes and whitish or pinkish corollas and pinkish anthers. The fruit is a ribbed cypsela with a pappus of many white or purple-tipped bristles.[3]

The plant occurs on the Gulf Coastal Plain in sandy, swampy habitat.[4]

It is sometimes still treated as a species of Solidago,[6] but DNA evidence and several aspects of its morphology support its separation from that genus.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ The Plant List Brintonia discoidea (Elliott) Greene
  2. ^ Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). "Brintonia". Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  3. ^ a b c Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). "Brintonia discoidea". Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. ^ a b Brintonia. Astereae Lab. University of Waterloo.
  5. ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  6. ^ Solidago discoidea.[permanent dead link] NatureServe. 2013.
  7. ^ Brintonia. Flora of North America.