Warea carteri
| Warea carteri | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Brassicales |
| Family: | Brassicaceae |
| Genus: | Warea |
| Species: | W. carteri |
| Binomial name | |
|
Warea carteri Small |
|
 |
|
| Warea carteri distribution | |
Warea carteri, common names Carter's pinelandcress and Carter's mustard, is an endangered, fire-dependent annual herb occurring in xeric, shrub-dominated habitats on the Lake Wales Ridge of central Florida.
Warea carteri is an annual herb, 0.2 to 1.5 m tall with erect green stems. The plants usually have many slender, ascending branches forming an open, rounded crown. The leaves lack stipules and are arranged alternately on the stem. Lower leaves are lost by the time the plant flowers. Leaf size and shape varies with age and position on the plant. At the time of flowering, leaf petioles range from 0.8 to 3.9 mm with blades 1 to 3 cm long. Towards the tips of stems, the leaves are smaller and narrowly elliptical to almost linear, while closer to the bases of stems and branches, the leaves are larger and oblanceolate or spatulate. All leaves are rounded at the tip, their margins entire, and their bases attenuate to cuneate. The lower leaves can also be undulate, margined or lobed. The many inflorescences of W. carteri are dense, rounded racemes with many flowers (60 or more). The flowers are radially symmetric, with four white linearoblanceolate sepals, about 4.5 mm long, and curved toward the center of the flower at the tip. The four petals are white, about 6.0 mm long, with more than half their length in the form of a slender claw. The petal's blade is nearly round with irregular margins. The six spreading stamens are irregularly subequal in length and arise from a nectar-producing floral disc. The ovary is superior, cylindric, about 2.3 mm long, and raised on a slender stalk (gynophore) about 2 mm long. The sessile stigma has two lobes. W. carteri is protandrous: the anthers begin to dehesce within an hour or two after the flower has opened. The stigmas are receptive until 2 to 4 days afterwards, by which time the stamens on that flower have dropped. Warea carteris fruit is a silique, long, slender pod divided lengthwise by a partition (septum). The pod is flattened, cylindrical in cross-section and gently curved along its length, which is 4 to 6 cm long and 1.5 mm wide. The pod is borne on a gynophore, which is a stalk-bearing pistil 5 to 6 mm long, above a spreading pedicel, which is around 8.5 mm long. The pod carries numerous oblong seeds, each 1.5 mm long Fruits split apart passively to shed the seeds.
...
Wikipedia