Glaucocarpum suffrutescens

(Shrubby Reed-Mustard, Toad Flax-Cress, Toad-Flax Cress, Uinta Basin Waxfruit)

Overview:

Critically Endangered

Conservation Status

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NatureServe: G1 Critically Imperiled

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae Haeckel, 1866
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae Cavalier-Smith, 1981 - Green Plants
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: euphyllophytina
        Infraphylum: radiatopses kenrick & crane, 1997
        Class: Magnoliopsida Brongniart, 1843 - Dicotyledons
        Subclass: Dilleniidae Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Violanae R. Dahlgren ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Capparales J. Hutchinson, 1924
        Suborder: Capparineae
        Family: Brassicaceae (brass-ih-KAY-see-ay) Burnett, 1835, nom. cons. - Mustard Family
        Genus: Glaucocarpum - Waxfruit Mustard
        Specific epithet: suffrutescens (Rollins) Rollins
        Botanical name: Glaucocarpum suffrutescens (Rollins) Rollins

Unambiguous Synonyms:

Schoenocrambe suffrutescens (Rollins) Welsh & Chatterley
Thelypodium suffrutescens Rollins

Notes:

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

Place of publication: Madroño 4:233. 1938

Name verified on 11-Mar-2008 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 11-Mar-2008

Physical Description

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Family Brassicaceae:

Herbs annual, biennial, or perennial, sometimes subshrubs or shrubs, with a pungent, watery juice. Eglandular trichomes unicellular, simple, stalked or sessile, 2- to many forked, stellate, dendritic, or malpighiaceous (medifixed, bifid, appressed), rarely peltate and scalelike; glandular trichomes multicellular, with uniseriate or multiseriate stalk. Stems erect, ascending, or prostrate, sometimes absent. Leaves exstipulate, simple, entire or variously pinnately dissected, rarely trifoliolate or pinnately, palmately, or bipinnately compound; basal leaf rosette present or absent; cauline leaves almost always alternate, rarely opposite or whorled, petiolate or sessile, sometimes absent. Inflorescence bracteate or ebracteate racemes, corymbs, or panicles, sometimes flowers solitary on long pedicels originating from axils of rosette leaves. Flowers hypogynous, mostly actinomorphic. Sepals 4, in 2 decussate pairs, free or rarely united, not saccate or lateral (inner) pair saccate. Petals 4, alternate with sepals, arranged in the form of a cross (cruciform; hence the earlier family name Cruciferae), rarely rudimentary or absent. Stamens 6, in 2 whorls, tetradynamous (lateral (outer) pair shorter than median (inner) 2 pairs), rarely equal or in 3 pairs of unequal length, sometimes stamens 2 or 4, very rarely 8-24; filaments slender, winged, or appendaged, median pairs free or rarely united; anthers dithecal, dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Pollen grains 3-colpate, trinucleate. Nectar glands receptacular, highly diversified in number, shape, size, and disposition around base of filaments, always present opposite bases of lateral filaments, median glands present or absent. Pistil 2-carpelled; ovary superior, sessile or borne on a distinct gynophore, mostly 2-locular and with a false septum connecting 2 placentae; placentation parietal, rarely apical; ovules anatropous or campylotropous, bitegmic, 1 to many per locule. Fruit typically a 2-valved capsule, generally termed silique (siliqua) when length 3 × or more than width, or silicle (silicula) when length less than 3 × width, dehiscent or indehiscent, sometimes schizocarpic, nutletlike, lomentaceous, or samaroid, segmented or not, terete, angled, or flattened parallel to septum (latiseptate) or at a right angle to septum (angustiseptate) ; valves 2(or 3-6) ; replum (persistent placenta) rounded, rarely flattened or winged; septum complete, perforated, reduced to a rim, or lacking; style 1, distinct, obsolete, or absent; stigma capitate or conical, entire or 2-lobed, sometimes lobes decurrent and free or connate. Seeds without endosperm, uniseriately or biseriately arranged in each locule, aseriate when 1, winged or wingless, mucilaginous or not when wetted; cotyledons incumbent (embryo notorrhizal: radicle lying along back of 1 cotyledon), accumbent (embryo pleurorrhizal: radicle applied to margins of both cotyledons), or conduplicate (embryo orthoplocal: cotyledons folded longitudinally around radicle), rarely spirally coiled (embryo spirolobal) . Germination epigeal.

About 330 genera and 3500 species: all continents except Antarctica, mainly in temperate areas, with highest diversity in Irano-Turanian, Mediterranean, and W North American regions; 102 genera (eight endemic) and 412 species (115 endemic) in China.

Because of lack of a comprehensive classification based on phylogenetic relationships among genera, and in order to facilitate direct comparison between the accounts in FOC and FRPS, the sequence of genera follows Schulz (Nat. Pflanzenfam. 17b: 227-658. 1936) . However, it should be emphasized that his system is largely artificial because he placed closely related genera in different tribes and remotely related genera in the same tribe. For example, Arabis, Aubrieta, Draba, and Macropodium, which are very closely related on the basis of recent molecular studies, were placed by Schulz in four different tribes, whereas the unrelated Capsella, Lepidium, and Thlaspi were placed in one tribe. The delimitation of genera is often difficult, and mature fruits are needed for reliable identification.

The Brassicaceae include many important crop plants that are grown as vegetables (Brassica, Nasturtium, Raphanus) and sources of vegetable oils (Brassica) and condiments (Armoracia, Brassica, Eutrema, Sinapis) . Oils of Brassica probably rank first in terms of tonnage of the world's production of edible oils. The family includes many ornamentals in the genera Erysimum, Iberis Linnaeus, Lobularia, Malcolmia, and Matthiola. Of these, only Lobularia maritima has become naturalized in China. The family also includes more than 120 species of weeds. Arabidopsis thaliana, which is naturalized in China, has become the model organism in many fields of experimental biology.

The delimitation of genera in the Brassicaceae is often difficult because of the frequent independent evolution of what appear to be similar character states, the variability of a given character in one genus and its fixture in another, and the inadequate sampling of material by most authors. Fruit characters are essential in the identification of genera. However, a key emphasizing flowering material is given in addition to the one emphasizing fruit. The most reliable determination of genera can be achieved when the material has both fruit and flowers and when both keys are successfully used to reach the same genus.

The types of cotyledonary position, which in reality is the position of the radicle in relation to the cotyledons (e.g., radicle accumbent, incumbent, or conduplicate, though radicle referred to as "cotyledon" throughout) are important in the separation of many genera, and a cross section of the seed provides the easiest and simplest way of determining that position. The exact number of ovules per ovary can easily be determined from the fruit because aborted ovules persist through fruit dehiscence. However, it is more laborious to determine the ovule number from pistils and young fruit.^[1]

Habit: Subshrub, Shrub, Forb/herb

Distribution

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Range and Population

North America

Native: .

Reproduction

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Duration: Perennial

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Glaucocarpum:

There are approximately 1 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus: G. suffrutescens (Shrubby Reed-Mustard)

Members of the genus Geranium:

Bibliography

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(2002). Rare Plant Profiles. [Searchable Web site] State of Utah Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources. http://www.utahcdc.usu.edu/rsgis2/Search/SearchSelection.asp?Group=PLANT and Species=PLANT. Accessed: 2002.
1988. Threatened and Endangered Plants Summary. Sego Lily: Newsletter of the Utah Native Plant Society. 15: 2.
Al-Shehbaz, I. A. 2005. Hesperidanthus (Brassicaceae) revisited. Harvard Pap. Bot. 10:50.
Cheo Tai-yien, Guo Rong-lin, Lan Young-zhen, Lou Lian-li, Kuan Ke-chien & An Zheng-xi. 1987. Cruciferae. In: Cheo Tai-yien, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 33: 1-483.
Kartesz, J. T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. (L US Can ed2) [= Glaucocarpum suffrutescens (Rollins) Rollins].
Rollins, R. C. 1993. The Cruciferae of continental North America. (Cruc NAmer) 498. [= Glaucocarpum suffrutescens (Rollins) Rollins].
USFWS. 1985. Proposal to Determine Glaucocarpum suffrutescens to be an Endangered Species with Critical Habitat. Federal Register. 50, 172: 36118-36122.
USFWS. 1985. Public Hearing and Extension of Comment Period on Proposed Endangered Status With Critical Habitat for Glaucocarpum suffrutescens (Toadflax Cress). Federal Register. 50, 213: 45846.
USFWS. 1987. Determination that Glaucocarpum suffrutescens is Federally Endangered. Federal Register. 52: 37420.
USFWS. 1994. Utah reed-mustards: clay reed-mustard (Schoenocrambe argillacea), Barneby reed-mustard (Schoenocrambe barnebyi), shrubby reed-mustard (Schoenocrambe suffrutescens) recovery plan. Denver, Colorado: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. p.22.
United States Fish and Wildlife Service. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Species Information: threatened and endangered animals and plants - on-line resource. (US Fish & Wildl List) [= Schoenocrambe suffrutescens (Rollins) S. L. Welsh & Chatterley].
Welsh, S. L. et al. 1987. A Utah flora. Great Basin Naturalist Mem. 9. (F Utah) [= Schoenocrambe suffrutescens (Rollins) S. L. Welsh & Chatterley].

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Notes

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Contributors:

Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed October 28, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from provider.
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (April 28, 2008)

Data Sources:

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 24, 2007:

USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database

Identifiers:

Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 23130
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13742267
Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:284501-1
Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PDBRA19010
U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: GLSU
Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 40833

Footnotes:

Tai-yien Cheo, Lianli Lu, Guang Yang, Ihsan Al-Shehbaz & Vladimir Dorofeev "Brassicaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 8 Page 1. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

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Last Revised: June 13, 2008