Erysimum coarctatum

Biennials or perennials; (caudex thickened, usually simple, rarely branched). Trichomes of leaves 2- (or 3-) rayed. Stems erect, unbranched or branched basally and/or distally, (0.8–)1.5–7(–9.4) dm. Basal leaves: blade oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 2–7 cm × 2–7 mm, base attenuate, margins entire or denticulate, apex acute. Cauline leaves sessile; blade margins entire or denticulate. Racemes (densely flowered), elongated or not in fruit. Fruiting pedicels usually ascending, rarely divaricate-ascending, stout, slightly narrower than fruit, (often crowded), 4–7(–10) mm. Flowers: sepals linear-oblong, 5–8 mm, lateral pair saccate basally; petals yellow, narrowly obovate to spatulate, (8–)10–15 × (2–)2.5–4 mm, claw 6–9 mm, apex rounded; median filaments 6–10 mm; anthers narrowly linear, 1.7–2 mm. Fruits suberect to ascending, (subappressed to rachis or not), narrowly linear, straight, not torulose, 2.5–5.8(–6.4) cm × 1.8–2.5 mm, slightly 4-angled, not striped; valves with somewhat prominent midvein, pubescent outside, trichomes 2–4-rayed, glabrous inside; ovules 40–56 per ovary; style stout, 0.5–1.5 mm, moderately to sparsely pubescent; stigma strongly 2-lobed, lobes as long as wide. Seeds ovoid to oblong, 1.5–2 × 1–1.2 mm; not winged. 2n = 54.

Phenology: Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat: Calcareous talus and cliffs, meadows, bluffs, spruce forests, roadsides, crevices, ledges
Elevation: 200-3000 m

Alta., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.W.T., Que., Yukon, Alaska.

Discussion

Both G. B. Rossbach (1958, 1958b) and R. C. Rollins (1993) treated Erysimum coarctatum as a variety of E. inconspicuum. However, the morphological and cytological (G. A. Mulligan 2002) differences clearly support its maintenance as a distinct species. The vast majority of the collections from Yukon belong to E. coarctatum, and the species is reported herein from Alberta [Banff, Clark s.n., July-August (GH)] for the first time. The records from Alaska are based on Scamman 5062 (GH) from Eklutna Lake and Wiggins 12886 (GH) from Umiat on Colville River.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa