Kentucky Plant Atlas




  
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Apocynaceae Amsonia salicifolia (tabernaemontana* var. s.)
Amsonia salicifoilia Pursh
ALI: no HAB: r-9,1?, n/a, C, 5 ABU: g8?, s6?, -4
This southeastern taxon occurs in thin swampy woods and marshy transitions, usually with much seasonal range in water level. It is generally distinct from typical tabernaemontana in its more hairy flowers, more compact inflorescences; narrower leaf blades, the larger ones mostly 1.5-2.5 cm wide (versus 2-6 cm), with L/W mostly 4-5 (versus 2.5-4); denser clonal growth (on much thicker rhizomes), and preference for more wet, sunny conditions. Differences are clear in cultivated plants grown side by side, but there may also be intermediates in the wild. The name A. tabernaemontana var. gattingeri Woodson has been widely to these plants (F, W). However, it represents a generally distinct group of plants with narrow leaves (mostly 1.5-2 cm) that differ from both salicifolia and tabernaemontana in their generally more coriaceous reddish-brown cataphylls (versus stramineous-papery to foliaceous), more yellowish green leaves (versus bluish), glossier upper surfaces, glabrate lower surfaces with more pronounced midrib (versus thiny hirsute, distinctly glaucous and more waxy-reticulate), later flowering (early to late May versus mid-Apr to mid-May), larger inflorescences (mostly 5-8 cm wide with 30-60 flowers versus 3-6 cm with 10-40), hairier calyx with longer lobes (0.8-1.5 mm versus 0.3-1 mm), and longer fruits (mostly 7-15 cm versus 4-10 cm), which become spreading to pendant (versus ascending) and sometimes torulose (versus scarcely so), when fully mature in late Jul to early Oct (versus late Jun to late Aug). Var. gattingeri occurs along calcareous shores of larger streams in central Tenn. and perhaps elsewhere in southeastern states; it may be expected in Kentucky along the lower Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers (or perhaps eliminated there by impoundments). A. illustris Woodson (2n = 22) is a closely related largely Ozarkian species of riparian shores that is widely cultivated (Y); combination with gattingeri may be justified (D. Estes, pers. comm.). Not mapped here are colls. from CAMP (KNK, NCU) initially referred to illustris, which were probably spread from cultivation; their identify and provenance remain uncertain.