Plants of Southern California: Cryptantha intermedia and C. muricata Varieties
Table of Contents
Introduction
Geographic and Elevational Distribution of These Taxa
Photographs
Introduction
This page currently exists just to give plots of the distributions of four taxa, the species C. intermedia and the three varieties of C. muricata.
Geographic and Elevational Distribution of These Taxa
C. intermedia overwhelmingly has the most vouchers of these four taxa, 2,494 vouchers as of 17 July 2014. There are 1,887 vouchers of C. muricata, but 75% of those are determined only to the species, probably because the first edition of the Jepson Manual lumped all the varieties together.
There are just 111 vouchers of C. muricata var. denticulata; 257 vouchers of var. jonesii; and 93 vouchers of var. muricata; leaving 1,426 vouchers determined just to the species. Thus the maps below for the varieties are very incomplete, and deductions about the distribution of these varieties state-wide might be premature. Compare the maps below for the varieties with the map of voucher distribution for all specimens of C. muricata to see how many areas have not had specimens determined to a variety.
For all the following maps, note that not all vouchers have been georeferenced; a small number may be georeferenced incorrectly; and some vouchers may be misdetermined. Most likely, though, the bulk of the vouchers are correctly determined and georeferenced, and hence the following maps are almost surely correct for areas where there are large numbers of points. Areas with only a few points of one taxa are the most likely to be suspect. I have not examined any of the vouchers, so I have not tossed any that might be suspicious.
Note also that elevations of vouchers are often not very precise.
Keeping those large caveats in mind, here are some tentative conclusions drawn from the maps presented below, some of which might be revised when more vouchers of C. muricata are determined to variety:
- Both C. intermedia and C. muricata are widespread in southern California.
- C. muricata var. jonesii is the most common variety of C. muricata in southern California, and is essentially the only one found south of the Transverse Range.
- In Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, for the large-flowered taxa of C. intermedia and C. muricata var. muricata, C. intermedia is the most common one at elevations below 3000 feet, and C. muricata var. muricata is the most common one above 3000 feet. C. intermedia essentially drops out above 5000 feet, with C. muricata var. muricata found up to 7000 feet.
- In Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, for the small-flowered taxa of C. muricata var. denticulata and var. jonesii, var. denticulata is the most common taxon above 6000 feet, with var. jonesii dominating below 4000 feet.
In the following maps, the two large-flowered taxa, C. intermedia and C. muricata var. muricata are displayed side by side, and the two small-flowered taxa, C. muricata varieties denticulata and jonesii are displayed side by side. The taxa in each pair are the ones most likely to be confused with each other.
The following figures show the geographic distribution of these four taxa from georeferenced vouchers obtained in a search of the Consortium of California Herbaria on 16 July 2014. The geographic distribution is displayed first for most of California; then for southern California; then for the San Gabriel Mountains.
C. intermedia | C. muricata var. muricata | |
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| Fig. 1. Geographic distribution of C. intermedia (left) and C. muricata var. muricata (right). Click on the maps for larger versions. | ||
C. muricata var. denticulata | C. muricata var. jonesii | |
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| Fig. 2. Geographic distribution of C. muricata var. denticulata (left) and C. muricata var. jonesii (right). Click on the maps for larger versions. | ||
Elevational distribution in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties
In each of the histograms displayed below, the curves plot the percentage of vouchers in a given elevation range. Note that due to the small numbers of vouchers, the errors for each points are relatively large, and so the curves are best interpreted by mentally smoothing the lines. I.e., sharp dips and peaks of the curves between neighboring points are not statistically significant.
Fig. 3. Elevational distribution of C. intermedia and C. muricata var. muricata.
Fig. 4. Elevational distribution of C. muricata var. denticulata and C. muricata var. jonesii.
Photographs
Voucher data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria.