Utah Flora: Compositae (Asteraceae)
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Great Basin Naturalist Volume 43 Number 2 Article 1 4-30-1983 Utah flora: Compositae (Asteraceae) Stanley L. Welsh Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn Recommended Citation Welsh, Stanley L. (1983) "Utah flora: Compositae (Asteraceae)," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 43 : No. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol43/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Hie Great Basin Naturalist Published at Provo, Utah, by Brigham Young University ISSN 0017-3614 Volume 43 April 30, 1983 No. 2 UTAH FLORA: COMPOSITAE (ASTERACEAE) Stanley L. Welsh' Abstract.— A revision of the sunflower family, Compositae (Asteraceae), is presented for the state of Utah. In- cluded are 613 taxa in 100 genera. Keys to genera, species, and infraspecific taxa are provided, along with detailed descriptions, distributional data, and pertinent discussion. Many nomenclatural changes have been necessary to bring Utah composites into line with contemporary interpretations of the family. They include: Artemisia tridentata Nutt. var. wyomingensis (Beetle & Young) Welsh; Aster kingii D.C. Eaton var. barnebyana (Welsh & Goodrich) Welsh; Brickellia microphylla (Nutt.) Gray var. ivatsonii (Robins.) Welsh; Chrysothamntis nauseosiis (Pallas) Britt. — var. abbreviatiis (Jones) Welsh, var. arenarius (L.C. Anderson) Welsh, var. glareosus (Jones) Welsh, var. iridis (L.C. Anderson) Welsh, and var. nitidus (L.C. Anderson) Welsh; Cirsium arizonicum (Gray) Petrak var. nidulum (Jones) Welsh; Cirsium calcareum (Jones) Woot. & Standi. — var. bipinnatum (Eastw.) Welsh and var. pulchellum (Greene) Welsh; Cirsium neomexicanum Gray var. utahense (Petrak) Welsh; Cirsium undulatum (Nutt.) Spreng. var. tracyi (Rydb.) Welsh; Crepis runcinata (James) T. & G. var. ghiuca (Nutt.) Welsh; Erigeron speciosus (Lindl.) DC. — var. mollis (Gray) Welsh and var. uintahensis (Cronq.) Welsh; Gutierrezia petradoria (Welsh & Goodrich) Welsh; Gutier- rezia pomariensis (Welsh) Welsh; Haplopappiis racemosus (Nutt.) Torr. — var. sessiliflortts (Greene) Welsh and var. prionophyllus (Greene) Welsh; Haplopappus watsonii Gray var. rydbergii (Blake) Welsh; Lygodesmia grandiflora (Nutt.) T. & G. — var. arizonica (Tomb) Welsh and var. dianthopsis (D.C. Eaton) Welsh; Machaeranthera canescens (Pursh) Gray — var. commixta (Greene) Welsh, var. leucanthemifolia (Greene) Welsh, and var. vacans (A. Nels.) Welsh; Petradoria pumila (Nutt.) Greene var. graminea (Woot. & Standi.) Welsh; and Senecio spartioides T. & G. var. multicapitatus (Greenm. in Rydb.) Welsh. This paper is one of a series of works lead- ornamentals. Few actual crop or food plants ing to a definitive treatment of the flora of are derived from members of this family. Utah. Previous papers have dealt with the Only lettuce and sunflower are grown as Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, and mis- crops or as garden plants from the vast array cellaneous smaller families. of species in this great family. Despite the The sunflower family has long been recog- paucity of food plants, there are many oma- nized for its great size and complexity both mental species. These have been included in in Utah and elsewhere; it is probably the the present treatment only when they have largest flowering plant family on earth. In escaped, or when they have been planted Utah it consists of 100 genera and 613 taxa, routinely for many years, and when speci- of which some 40, or about 7 percent, are in- mens have been preserved in the herbarium, troduced. The 573 indigenous taxa comprise The cultivated flora requires a separate in- about 20 percent of the flora native to the tensive effort not herein attempted, state. This large family is apparently unique The importance of members of this family in total numbers, but is also unique in having to wildlife, both as cover and as food, is well such a small proportion of adventive taxa. known by range managers. Despite the pres- The figures are misleading, to an extent, be- ence of chemical substances produced by the cause of the omission of numerous cultivated plants, which impart unpleasant flavors or 'Life Science Museum and Department of Botany and Range Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. 179 180 Great Basin Naturalist Vol. 43, No. 2 even poisonous substances, many of them are of apomictic races each lead to problems not eaten by both wildlife and by livestock. Sage- easily soluble. And the end results are subject brush and rabbitbrush species are well known to a variety of preliminary conclusions, each for their value in reclamation of sites requir- subject to change as additional information ing rehabilitation. becomes available. Further, generic lines in Negative values are reflected in the weedy the family are not definitive, with aggrega- species that occupy cultivated lands, in the tions of species sometimes representing con- mechanically injurious species (such as venience rather than actual affinities. Recent thistles and their relatives), and in the numer- workers have tended to segregate traditional ous poisonous kinds. Livestock losses have genera into finer subunits or additional gen- been reported in literature from utilization of era. This seems to represent a continuing species of the family, i.e., Baileya, Hyme- trend, and it seems probable that some of the noxys (especially richardsonii), Oxytenia ace- genera treated herein will be broken up in rosa, Psilostrophe, Senecio, and Tetradymia. the future. The weight of evidence for doing Other plants are rendered unpalatable by so lies with the future workers. Those who their complex biochemical compounds, and find it modern to give "new" generic inter- they tend to increase on range lands where pretations are often merely opting previous other more palatable plants are eaten selec- workers, whose interpretations were flawed. tively. Gutierrezia and Chrysothamnus spe- Another later generation will opt for a differ- cies fit this latter category, although selected ent set of names based on what they consider phases of the same Chrysothamnus species to be "modern." might be palatable or differentially palatable. Some of the species are edaphic specialists, Certainly there is much room for in- occurring on definite substrates of restricted vestigation of members of this huge aerial or elevational distribution. The woody assemblage. asters (Xylorhiza) are selenophytes and are re- The largest genus, and one of the most stricted to shales and silt- and mudstones of complex taxonomically, is Erigeron, with fine-textured geological formations in eastern more than 60 taxa. Without the able mono- to southwestern Utah. graph by Cronquist, and lacking his coopera- The present work should be considered tive help, the species of Erigeron would have tentative at best. Despite the large number of been much more difficult to interpret. Be- specimens available for study (13,700), many cause of his knowledge, his dedication, and of the taxa are imperfectly known and distri- his helpful cooperation, this treatment is ded- butions are yet to be understood. Mono- icated to him. The same kinds of problems, graphic work is required for practically all made even more complicated by extensive groups, whether completed in the recent past hybridization, is true for Senecio, which or not. It is hoped that this work will provide Barkley has treated so competently. Fortu- a useful summary for those who work with nately, monographs or revisions are available Utah composites. for most of the larger genera. However, no To the extent possible the work presented modem work is definitive for Aster, which below contains the most modern names for requires interpretation on a cosmopolitan, the entities involved, based on application of rather than provincial, basis. Also, Artemisia contemporary International Rules of Bo- has not been treated in its entirety for several tanical Nomenclature. Following the name of decades. Much research on the nature of the the entities are the synonyms that apply to biochemical constituents of Artemisia has Utah plants specifically. No attempt has been shed light on the taxonomy of the group. made to list synonymy exhaustively. The Difficulties in the composite genera and basionym has been included more or less uni- species, aside from those involving the great formly, and an attempt has been made to cite number of taxa, include those due to hybridi- all synonyms based on Utah plants, including zation, ploidy level, and apomixis. Blending a brief notation of type locality. of morphological forms due to hybridization, The discussion following the description of subtle changes due to variations in chromo- each species, or the name of the infraspecific some sets, and the problems of interpretation taxon, includes the plant communities in April 1983 Welsh: Utah Flora: Compositae (Asteraceae) 181 which the taxon occurs. They are arranged in florescence of involucrate heads, these soli- ascending order from dry low elevation com- tary or several in corymbose, racemose, pan- munities to mesic high elevation commu- iculate, or cymose clusters; flowers few to nities. Community data is followed by eleva- numerous on a common receptacle, sur- tional range (given in meters), counties of rounded