Camissonia refracta (S.Watson) P.H.Raven
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Authority
Raven, Peter H. 1969. A revision of the genus Camissonia (Onagraceae). Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 37: 161-396.
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Family
Onagraceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Lectotype: Gravelly hills near the Colorado River, Arizona or California, 17 February 1854, J. Bigelow (GH); cf. Munz, Bot. Gaz. 85: 237. 1928.
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Description
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Description - Erect, 6-45 cm. tall, often well branched at the base and above, not flowering near the base, sparsely strigulose or with an admixture of glandular trichomes in the inflorescence or all over. Leaves very narrowly elliptic to very narrowly lanceolate, the basal ones largest, to 6 cm. long and 0.8 cm. wide, often withered by the time of flowering; leaves sparsely and weakly denticulate; apex acuminate, the base attenuate; basal leaves with a petiole up to 2 cm. long, the upper ones subsessile. Inflorescence nodding before anthesis. Hypanthium 4-6 mm. long, 1.6-2 mm. across at the summit, villous in lower half within. Sepals 4-6 mm. long, 1.2-2 mm. wide. Petals 3.5-7 mm. long, 2-6 mm. wide. Filaments of the episepalous stamens 2-4.5 mm. long, those of the epipetalous ones slightly shorter; anthers 1.5-2.5 mm. long. Style 9-13 mm. long, the lower portions villous; stigma 1-1.5 mm. in diameter, held well above the anthers at anthesis. Capsule 2-5 cm. long, 0.7-1 mm. thick, straight to contorted, erect, spreading, or reflexed, terete. Seeds all of one type, 0.9-1.5 mm. long, 0.45-0.5 mm. thick, gray, finely lacunose, the lacunae in lines. Gametic chromosome number, n=7. Self-incompatible.
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Discussion
Camissonia rejracta is distinctive and has rarely been confused with any other entity. It often grows sympatrically with C. chamaenerioides, C. boothii subsp. condensate,, and C. boothii subsp. desertorum, but no hybrids have been observed in nature. The high degree of chromosomal heterozygosity in this species is striking and could well be investigated further; of the 13 individuals in which chromosome association has been observed, 4 had 7 pairs; 6 had 5 pairs and a ring of 4; 1 had 3 pairs and 2 rings of 4; 1 had 4 pairs and a ring of 6; and 1 had 2 pairs and a ring of 10. There is no evidence that any of these configurations is associated with balanced lethals as in certain species of Oenothera, Gayophytum, Calylophxs, and Gaum; but it would seem on the basis of our present limited amount of evidence that well over half of the individuals of this species are heterozygous for at least one reciprocal translocation, a situation unknown elsewhere in Camissonia. Six individuals from the Nevada population cited above were found to be self-incompatible by pollen-tube growth.