Turner, B.L. 2010. Rescension of the Mexican Amauriopsis (Asteraceae: Bahieae). Phytoneuron 2010-10: 1-7. Mailed 13 May
2010.

RECENSION OF THE MEXICAN AMAURIOPSIS (ASTERACEAE: BAHIEAE)

BillieL. Turner

Plant Resources Center

The University of Texas

Austin, TX 78712

ABSTRACT

The recently resurrected genus Amauriopsis (Bahia series Alternifoliae of Ellison) is treated
as having six species, five of these native to Mexico. One of these, A. biternata, so far as known, is
confined to the USA A new taxon, Amauriopsis |aiiiko\<fii,i BL Turner, sp. nov., is described
from northeastern Chihuahua. New combinations are these: A. autumnalis (Ellison) B.L. Turner,
comb, nov., A. biternata (A Gray) B.L. Turner, comb, nov., A. glandulosa (Greenm.) B.L. Turner,
comb, nov., and A. pedata (A. Gray) B.L. Turner, comb. nov. A key to the species is provided, along
with maps showing the Mexican distributions, all of this in the format of my upcoming treatment of
the tribe Bahieae for the Comps of Mexico (cf Turner 1997, Phytologia Memoirs 11).

AMAURIOPSIS Rydb., N. Amer. Fl. 34: 37. 1914.

Annual or biennial herbs with alternate leaves. Heads mostly radiate in terminal paniculate
cymes. Involucres hemispheric to campanuiate, the bracts subequal in two series. Receptacles flat to
convex, epaleate. Ray florets pistillate, fertile, yellow or yellow-orange. Disk florets numerous,
bisexual, mostly yellowish, the corollas regular to somewhat zygomorphic. Anther appendages ovate,
lacking glandular trichomes. Style branches deltoid apically, the stigmatic lines narrow. Achenes
obpyramidal, variously pubescent pappus of ca 8-16 scales, the midrib usually included, rarely
absent. Base chromosome number, x = 12.

Type species, Amauriopsis dissecta (A Gray) Rydb.

REFERENCES

Baldwin, B.G., B.L. Wessa, and J.L. Panero. 2002. Nuclear rDNA evidence for major lineages of

helenioidHeliantheae(Compositae). Syst. Bot. 27: 161-198.
Balleza J.J. y J.L. Villasenor. 2002. La familia Asteraceae en el estado de Zacatecas (Mexico). Acta

Bot. Mex.59: 5-69.
Ellison, W.L. 1964. A systematic study of the genus Bahia (Compositae). Rhodora 66: 67-86; 178-

186; 288-311.
Panero, J.L. 2007. Compositae: tribe Bahieae. Pp. 433^139, in J. W. Kadereit and C. Jeffrey (eds.),

Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, Vol. VIII: Flowering Plants, Eudicots, Asterales.

Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

A mostly western North American genus with 6 species, 5 of these native to Mexico, the
sixth confined to the USA. Ellison (1964) included all of these within his concept of Bahia series
Alternifoliae. DNA data, however, strongly indicate that these are better treated as a separate genus
(Panero 2007), and such is followed here. So treated, Bahia sensu stricto comprises species with
strictly opposite leaves (series Oppositifoliae). As will be noted in the synonymy below, at least two
species (A. biternata and A. dissecta) have been included in the extra-tribal genus Villanova, but
DNA data (Baldwin et al. 2002; Panero 2007) negate such a positioning.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1. Plants perennial from woody rootstocks; leaves tripartite Amauriopsis janakosana

1. Plants annual from slender taproots; leaves multipartite (2)

2. Ray florets white or creamy-white Amauriopsis glandulosa

2. Ray florets yellow (3)

3. Peduncles puberulent, but not glandular-pubescent; e Coa, Nue Amauriopsis autumnalis

3. Peduncles densely glandular-pubescent (4)

4. Inner achenes with pappus scales having an excurrent awn; leaf segments mostly 1-3 mm wide
Amauriopsis biternata

4. Inner achenes with pappus absent or if scales present not aristate; leaf segments mostly 3-5 mm

5. Pappus absent or rarely present (when present the scales lanceolate); Bajn, Son, Chi, w Coa

Amauriopsis dissects

5. Pappus of obovate to oblanceolate or spatulate scales; Chi, Coa, Nue, Dur, and adjacent USA

Amauriopsis pedata

Coa and Nue, rocky limestone soils, mostly thorny scrublands, 500-1000 m; Oct-Nov.

Robust annual or biennial, mostly eglandular, herbs to 1.5 m high; stems leafy throughout;
leaves mostly alternate, 4-12 cm long, ternately divided into mostly linear-oblanceolate segments;
heads radiate, numerous on ultimate peduncles 0.5-4.5 cm long; involucre hemispheric, 2-3 seriate,
the bracts subequal; receptacle convex, epaleate; ray florets 13-21, pistillate, fertile, the ligules 13-
21, yellow, 4-5 mm long; disk florets numerous, yellow; achenes pubescent below, and along the
angles, the faces glabrous; pappus of 11-12 lacerate scales 1.0-1.3 mm long; chromosome number, n

A very distinctive, fall-flowering, species, not easily confused with another. Noteworthy is a
specimen (Hinton 23993, Aramberri, Nue) from gypseous soils having much smaller heads with
fewer florets; I take this to be a small-headed form of the present. Occasional plants from the vicinity
of Rayones, Nue (e.g., Hinton et at. 28563) are densely glandular-pubescent throughout, suggesting

genetic influence of Amauriopsis pedata.

AMAURIOPSIS BITERNATA (A Gray) B.L. Turner, comb. nov. Map 2. Based upon Bahia

biternata A Gray, PL Wright. 2: 95. 1853.
Eriophyllum biternatum (A. Gray) Kuntze
Schkuhria biternata (A Gray) A Gray
Villanova biternata (A. Gray) Woot. & Standi

Not collected in Mexico as yet, but to be anticipated along the northern borders of Son and
Chi, since it is known to occur in the central and southern counties of Arizona and New Mexico in the

USA

This taxon is closely related to Amauriopsis pedata, the latter not having aristate pappus
scales. The possibility that A. biternata is but a awned-pappus populational expression of the latter
could be investigated in the field.

AMAURIOPSIS DISSECTA (A Gray) Rydb.,

dissecta A Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts,
Bahia chrysanthemoides (A. Gray) A Gray
Bahia dissecta (A. Gray) Britton
Bahia dissecta var. anisopappa Blake
Eriophyllum chrysanthemoides (A. Gray) Kuntze
Villanova chrysanthemoides A Gray
Villanova dissecta (A Gray) Rydb.

Bajn, e Son, n Chi, n Coa, and southwestern USA (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada,
New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Wyoming), juniper-pine woodlands, 1600-2200 m; Jul-Oct.

Annual herbs to 1.5 m high; much resembling A. pedata but the foliage scarcely glandular-
pubescent if at ail, the ultimate divisions finer; technically, A. dissecta is distinguished from A.
pedata by its nearly glabrous, epappose achenes. Blake, however, recognized pappose forms from
Bajn as the var. anisopappa. In all other characters, however, plants of the latter are similar to A.
dissecta; chromosome number, n = 18 pairs.

AMAURIOPSIS GLANDULOSA (Greenm.) B.L. Turner, comb. nov. Map 4. Based upon Bahia
glandulosa Greenm., Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 39: 116. 1904.

Hymenopappus glandulopubescens Waterfall

Dur, Zac, Agu, and n Jal, grasslands and pine-oak woodlands, 1900-2300 m; Aug-Nov.

Annual or biennial herbs to 1.5 m high; leaves mostly alternate, pedately dissected, the
iolugi- usualh "lardulai -pubescent throughout; otherwise resembling Amauriopsis pedata but readily
distinguished by its white rays; chromosome number, n = 12 pairs.

Most of the distributional records from Zac are from Balleza and Villasenor (2002).

AMAURIOPSIS JANAKOSANA B.L. Turner, sp. nov. Fig. 1, Map 4.

Amauriopsi pedatae (A Gray) B.L. Turner similis sed differt duratione perenni (vs annul)
ndi-ibu^ huif loin 1 , nsnute giandul »si puKs^nhbus (vs manifeste pilosis), et acheniis villosis (vs
hispidulis).

Perennial herbs to 1 m high. Stems several from the apex of a woody crown or root; mid-
stems minutely glandular -pubescent to nearly glabrate, with a smattering of minute eglandular hairs.
Leaves tripartite, their margins irregularly lobed, if at all, pubescent like the stems; petioles 2.0-3.5
cm long. Capitulescence a terminal paniculate cyme ca 15 cm high, the ultimate peduncles 2-5 cm
long. Heads ca 2 cm across the extended rays; involucral bracts 2-3 seriate, w^eakiy gradate, sparsely
pubescent like the stems, the inner bracts lanceolate, apiculate, 7-8 mm long. Receptacle convex,
naked, ca 3 mm wide. Ray florets ca 8(?), pistillate, fertile; ligules ca 5 mm long, yellow. Disk
florets numerous, yellow. Achenes 4-sided, nervate, ca 4 mm long, villous throughout with upwardly
appressed hairs; pappus of ca 16, flabellate, nervate scales ca 2 mm long.

TYPE: MEXICO. Chihuahua Mpio. Ojinaga, 33.5 1cm by winding road SE of Ejido Paso de
San Antonio toward Rancho El Carrizal Grande (Coah.), NE flank of Sa. de Hechiceros, 28° 51' N,

103° 34' W, 950-1150 m, matorral desertico con esp. laterales, steep slopes [ofj <

rock, gravelly and grassy, very crumbly, 2 Oct 1972, F. Chiang, T. Wendt, and MC. Johnston 9665

(holotype: LL).

Named for Jana Kos (age 55; born in Czechoslovakia, naturalized in the USA), a delightful
colleague of mine at the University of Texas, where we fust met. She was teaching Czech at the time
but subsequently became interested in botany as a result of our field sorties along the Mexican border
regions. Jana is like the above novelty in many ways: she is a poorly known individual whom I
discovered by pure chance (much as the Type of Amauriopsis janakosana, a unusual specimen hidden
among a stack of A. pedata collections'). More important, her intelligence, singular ideals, and
loyalty are remarkable, and 1 find her fully deserving of the eponymy rendered.

AMAURIOPSIS PEDATA (A Gray) B.L. Turner, comb. nov. Map 5. Based upon Bahia pedata

A. Gray, PI, Wright. 1: 123. 1852,
Eriophyllum pedatunx (A Gray) Kuntze
Schkuhria pedata (A. Gray) A. Gray

Chi, Coa, Nue, Dur, and adjacent USA (New Mexico and western Texas), pine-oak woods,
1000-1800 m; Aug-Dec.

Annual, biennial or short-lived perennial herbs to 1.2 m high; leaves mostly alternate,
pedately dissected, the ultimate divisions rather broad and ovate in outline, sparsely to densely
pubescent; heads radiate, few to numerous, the ultimate peduncles densely glandular-pubescent;
involucres 2-seriate, the bracts 4-6 mm long, subequal; ray florets 11-15, fertile, the ligules yellow,
5-8 mm long; disk florets 70-110, the corollas yellow; achenes 2.5-4.5 mm long, 4-10 ribbed,
hispidulous, the pappus of 10-16, nervate, obovate to oblanceolate or spatulate scales; chromosome
number, n = 12 pairs.

Occasional specimens from the vicinity of Monterrey, Nue, superficially resemble

Amauriopsis pedata. as noted under A. autumnalis.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As always, I am grateful to my colleague Guy Nesom for the Latin diagnosis and for
g the paper.

Figure 1. Holotype of Amauriopsis janakosana B.L. Turner.

ittntnt-

m

rv~

if

■ AMAURIOPSIS
pedata

Map 5