Amsonia grandiflora

• Overview
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Threatened

Common Names

Description

Family Apocynaceae

Trees , shrubs , or vines , rarely subshrubs or herbs, with latex or rarely watery juice. Leaves simple , opposite, rarely whorled or alternate, pinnately veined; stipules absent or rarely present. Inflorescences cymose , terminal or axillary , with bracteoles. Flowers bisexual , 5- [or 4]-merous, actinomorphic . Calyx 5- or rarely 4-partite, quincuncial, basal glands usually present. Corolla 5- or rarely 4-lobed, salverform , funnelform , urceolate , or rarely rotate, lobes overlapping to right or left, rarely valvate . Stamens 5 or rarely 4; filaments short; anthers mostly sagittate , free or connivent into a cone adherent to pistil head , dehiscing longitudinally, base rounded , cordate, sagittate, or prolonged into an empty spur; pollen granular ; disc ringlike or cup-shaped, 2-5-lobed, or absent. Ovaries superior, rarely half-inferior, connate or distinct , 1- or 2-locular; ovules (1 or) 2-numerous per locule. Style 1; pistil head capitate, conical , or lampshade-shaped, base stigmatic, apex 2-cleft and not stigmatic . Fruit a berry, drupe, capsule, or follicle. Seeds with or without coma; endosperm thick and often horny , scanty, sometimes absent; embryo straight or nearly so, cotyledons often large, radicle terete .

About 155 genera and 2000 species distributed primarily in the tropics and subtropics, poorly represented in the temperate regions . Of the 44 genera and 145 species present in China, one genus and 38 species are endemic, and nearly 95% of the taxa grow in the southern and southwestern portions of the country.

Fruit type is highly diversified in the family , and it is diagnostic of many genera. Genera 1-4 produce 1, 2-celled berries from a flower; genus 5 produces 2, 1-celled berries from a flower; 6 and 7 produce mostly fleshy follicles containing deeply indented seeds with ruminate endosperm; 8 has follicles and winged seeds; 9 produces follicles and seeds with 2 comas; 10-12 have follicles with globose seeds; 13-18 have drupes mostly with fleshy mesocarp; 19 has samaroid fruit; 20 has spiny capsules with seeds winged all around; and 21-44 have free or fused follicles and comose seeds. Double flowers are known only from cultivated forms of Nerium oleander, Tabernaemontana divaricata, and Wrightia religiosa.

Plants of the Apocynaceae are often poisonous and are rich in alkaloids or glycosides, especially in the seeds and latex. Some species are valuable sources of medicine, insecticides , fibers, and rubber.[1]

Genus Amsonia

Herbs annual or perennial , erect , with latex, without stolons. Leaves alternate, membranous. Cymes thyrsoid or corymbose , terminal . Flowers blue or bluish. Sepals narrowly acuminate, usually without glands . Corolla blue or bluish, salverform ; tube cylindric , dilated above middle , villous inside; lobes overlapping to left. Stamens inserted inside dilated portion of corolla tube; anthers ovate or oblong , free from pistil head , base rounded . Carpels united by a filiform style; ovules numerous , biseriate on each placenta. Pistil head with a basal membranous appendage. Follicles 2, cylindric-fusiform, erect. Seeds cylindric, end obliquely truncate ; coma absent.

About 20 species: North America, SE Asia; one species in China.[2]

Physical Description

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Torreya 34:116. 1934

Name verified on 20-Dec-1994 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 12-Jan-2000

Similar Species

Members of the genus Amsonia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 62 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. amsonia · A. angustifolia · A. angustifolia var. texana · A. arenaria · A. arizonica · A. biformis · A. brevifolia · A. ciliata (Fringed Blue-Star) · A. ciliata filifolia · A. ciliata texana · A. ciliata var. ciliata (Fringed Bluestar) · A. ciliata var. tenuifolia (Fringed Bluestar) · A. ciliata var. texana (Texas Bluestar) · A. ciliata var. filiformis · A. eastwoodiana · A. eastwoodiana var. stenophylla (Eastwood's Bluestar) · A. elliptica (Amsonia) · A. filiformis · A. fugatei (San Antonio Bluestar) · A. glaberrima · A. grandiflora (Arizona Bluestar) · A. hirtella · A. hubrechtii (Arkansas Blue Star) · A. hubrectii · A. hubrichtii (Narrow Leaf Blue Star) · A. illustris (Great Plains Slimpod) · A. jonesii (Jones Blue-Star) · A. kearneyana (Kaerney´s Bluestar) · A. lanata · A. latifolia · A. longiflora (Tubular Bluestar) · A. longiflora var. longiflora (Tubular Bluestar) · A. longiflora var. salpignantha (Tubular Bluestar) · A. longifolia · A. ludoviciana (Louisiana Blue Star) · A. montana 'Short Stack' · A. orientalis (Blue Star) · A. palmeri (Palmer's Blue-Star) · A. peeblesii (Peebles' Blue-Star) · A. pogonosepala · A. repens (Creeping Blue-Star) · A. rigida (Stiff Blue-Star) · A. salicifolia · A. salicifolia var. salicifolia · A. salpignantha · A. salpignantha var. salpignantha · A. salpignatha · A. 'Seaford Skies' (Hybrid Amsonia) · A. sinensis · A. standleyi · A. tabernae-montana · A. tabernaemontana (Eastern Blue Dogbane) · A. tabernaemontana 'Blue Ice' (Woodland Blue Star) · A. tabernaemontana 'Montana' (Woodland Blue Star) · A. tabernaemontana var. gattingeri (Eastern Bluestar) · A. tabernaemontana var. salicifolia (Woodland Blue Star) · A. tabernaemontana var. tabernaemontana (Eastern Bluestar) · A. texana · A. tharpii (Feltleaf Bluestar) · A. tomentosa (Eastwood's Bluestar) · A. tomentosa var. stenophylla (Narrowleaf Blue Star) · A. tristis

More Info

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Further Reading

• (2000). Center for Plant Conservation's National Living Collection--Profiles. Desert Botanical Garden. http://www.dbg.org/Collections/cpc.html. Accessed: 2002.
• Ecker, L. 1991. Annual report to the Center for Plant Conservation. Phoenix, Arizona: Desert Botanical Garden.
• Gori, D.F.; Warren, P.L.; Anderson, L.S. 1990. Population studies of sensitive plants of the Huachuca, Patagonia and Atacosa Mountains, Arizona. Tucson, AZ: Prepared by The Arizona Nature Conservancy and Submitted to Coronado National Forest in completion of P.O. No. 40-8197-0-0215.
• Kartesz, J.T. 1993. Species distribution data for vascular plants of 70 geographical areas, from unpublished data files at the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
• Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the U.S., Canada, and Greenland. In: Kartesz, J.T.; Meacham, C.A., editors. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden. Chapel Hill, NC.
• Kearney, T. H. & R. H. Peebles. 1969. Arizona flora, ed. 2. (F Ariz)
• Kearney, T.H.; Peebles, R.H. 1973. Arizona flora. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 1085p.
• McLaughlin, S. P. 1982. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 69:349.
• McLaughlin, Steven P. 1985. A new species of Amsonia (Apocynaceae) from central New Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist. 30, 4: 563-565.
• Reichenbacher, F. 1990. Reintroduction brings Kearney's Blue Star from extinction's edge. Plant Conservation. 5, 1: 3.
• Sellers, W.D.; Hill, R.H.; Sanderson-Rae, M. 1985. Arizona climate: the first hundred years. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona.
• Shreve, F. & I. L. Wiggins. 1964. Vegetation and flora of the Sonoran desert. (F SonorDes) [= A. longiflora Torr.].
• Wahyuono, S.; Hoffmann, J. J.; Jolad, S. D.; Dentali, S. J. 1987. Triterpenoids of Amsonia grandiflora. Phytochemistry. 26, 4: 1213-1213.
• Wahyuono, Subagus. 1985. Phytochemical investigation of Amsonia grandiflora, Family Apocynaceae. [M.S.]: The University of Arizona. 81p.
• Warren, P.L.; Anderson, L.S.; Shafroth, P. B. 1989. Population studies of sensitive plants of the Huachuca and Patagonia Mountains, Arizona. Tucson, Arizona: The Nature Conservancy. 98p.
• Warren, P.L.; Gebow, B.S.; Gori, D.F.; Malusa, J.; Monarqui, E.S. 1992. Status report update. Amsonia grandiflora Alexander. Large-flowered Blue Star. Phoenix, Arizona: Submitted to the USFWS, Ecological Services.
• Woodson, R.E., Jr. 1938. Amsonia. North American Flora. 29: 126-131.
• Tsiang Ying & Li Ping-tao. 1977. Apocynaceae. Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 63: 1-249.

Notes

Contributors

• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed January 12, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 5 providers.
• USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (April 25, 2008)

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal January 12, 2008:

• Comisión nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad, Herbario del Instituto de Ecología, A.C., México
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Vascular Plant Herbarium
• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2653308
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-30136
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13744793
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:76909-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 400544
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 30136
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 76909-1
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PDAPO03060
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: AMGR4
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 20937

Footnotes

1. Bingtao Li, Antony J. M. Leeuwenberg & David J. Middleton "Apocynaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 143. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Amsonia". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 156. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

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