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Volume IV (1988) - Flora of New Zealand Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons
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Linaria Mill.

LINARIA Miller

Annual or perennial herbs. Lvs simple, entire, sessile or nearly so, opposite or whorled, sometimes alternate above. Infl. composed of terminal bracteate racemes or spikes, rarely fls axillary and solitary; bracts small. Calyx usually deeply and unequally 5-lobed; adaxial lobe usually longest. Corolla with pouch closing mouth of tube; tube cylindric, spurred at base; limb 2-lipped; upper lip 2-lobed; lower lip 3-lobed. Stamens 4, included. Capsule ± globose; loculi equal, dehiscing by up to c. 10 longitudinal slits in the upper 1/2. Seeds numerous, discoid and mostly winged, sometimes elongated and wingless, small.

Key

1
Perennial or apparently so; corolla all yellow except for orange pouch
2
Annual or perennial; corolla white, pink, crimson, or shades of purple, sometimes with yellow pouch but not all yellow
4
2
Lvs linear; seed winged
6. *vulgaris
Lvs lanceolate to elliptic or broad-ovate; seeds winged or wingless
3
3
Lvs on vegetative shoots ± amplexicaul; seed wingless
2. *genistifolia
Lvs on vegetative shoots sessile but not amplexicaul; seeds winged
*platycalyx ζ
4
Perennials or biennials with stout, slender, or creeping rhizomatous rootstock; infl. glabrous
5
Annuals with slender taproot; infl. usually with glandular hairs, at least on pedicels and calyx lobe margins
8
5
Lvs ovate or nearly so; corolla > 35 mm long
*triornithophora ζ
Lvs linear to narrow-lanceolate; corolla < 20 mm long
6
6
Rhizomes slender and creeping; corolla spur 2-4 mm long
5. *repens
Rootstock usually stout, sometimes slender, not rhizomatous; corolla spur 5-7 mm long
7
7
Rootstock stout and much thicker than stems; stems 30-80 cm tall, erect
4. *purpurea
Rootstock slender and little thicker than stems; stems usually 5-10 cm tall, decumbent or ascending
*alpina ζ
8
Racemes congested and ± capitate at flowering; corolla c. 5 mm long
1. *arvensis
Racemes lax and elongated at flowering; corolla 25-30 mm long
3. *maroccana

c. 150 spp., N. temperate, especially Mediterranean region. Naturalised spp. 9.

Fls of some spp. of Linaria are illustrated in Fig. 109.

Fig. 109. Fls of Linaria. A L. genistifolia subsp. dalmatica; B L. maroccana; C L. purpurea; D L. vulgaris. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X3M]
Fig. 109. Fls of Linaria. A L. genistifolia subsp. dalmatica; B L. maroccana; C L. purpurea; D L. vulgaris. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X3M]
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