Menonvillea famatinensis (Boelcke) Rollins (1955: 35)

Salariato, Diego L., Zuloaga, Fernando O. & Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan A., 2014, A revision of the genus Menonvillea (Cremolobeae, Brassicaceae), Phytotaxa 162 (5), pp. 241-298 : 286-287

22. Menonvillea famatinensis (Boelcke) Rollins (1955: 35) . Hexaptera famatinensis Boelcke (1951: 171) . Hexaptera pinnatifida Gillies & Hook. var. nana Hieronymus in Hosseus (1921: 98), nom. nud. Type:—

ARGENTINA. [Provincia de la Rioja]. Sierra Famatina, Cueva de Pérez , 26−28 January 1879, G . Hieronymus & G. Niederlein 379 (holotype CORD!; isotypes G!, GH!, K!, SI 28562 !) .

Hexaptera famatinensis Boelcke var. sphaerocarpa (1951: 175) . Menonvillea famatinensis Boelcke var. sphaerocarpa (Boelcke) Rollins (1955: 36) . Type:— ARGENTINA. [Provincia de La Rioja]. Sierra de Famatina, Cueva de Pérez , 4,200 m, 15 January 1947, J. H. Hunziker 1941 (holotype BAB!; isotypes BAA!, LP 76595 !, MO!, K!, SI 28624 !).

Perennials, scapose, with branched woody caudex. Stems 3–6 cm, several to numerous from base, erect, slender, shorter than basal leaves, unbranched above, hirsute with antrorse to spreading, terete, simple trichomes to 0.5 mm long. Basal leaves numerous, rosulate, conspicuously tufted, long petiolate; petiole 2−10 cm long; blade oblanceolate, (1.5−)2.5−5(−8) × 0.4−1.2 cm, densely pubescent with appressed, antrorse simple trichomes, base attenuate, margin dentate, lobes and apex acute; cauline leaves absent. Racemes terminal, ebracteate, corymbose, compact, slightly elongated in fruit, shorter than basal leaves, 2−5 cm long; rachis densely hirsute, straight; fruiting pedicels divaricate to ascending, 0.6−1.5 cm long, straight, densely pubescent, slender. Sepals oblong, 2−2.3(−2.6) × 0.7−1.1(−1.3) mm, sparsely pilose, erect, not saccate, caducous, margin membranous; petals white to creamy white, spatulate to narrowly so, 2.2−3(−3.5) × 0.8−1.2 mm, clawed, densely papillate at base; stamens tetradynamous; filaments of median pairs united from base to 1/5−1/4 of their length, erect, slightly dilated and papillate at base, 2−3 mm long; anthers oblong, 0.5−0.8 mm long; nectar glands confluent, not petaloid, subtending base of all filaments. Fruits ovoid to broadly oblong or ellipsoid, glabrous; valves 3-winged, conspicuously veined, 3.5−4.5 × 2.5−3.2 mm; lateral and dorsal wings similar, irregularly undulate, erose or entire at margin, 0.4− 0.7 mm wide; gynophore 0.5−1 mm long; style 1−1.5(−2) mm long; stigma capitate. Seeds oblong, ca. 1.5 × 1 mm, wingless, plump; cotyledons obliquely incumbent.

Distribution and habitat:— Menonvillea famatinensis is an Argentinean endemic of Sierra Famatina in La Rioja Province. It grows at elevations of 3700–4500 m ( Fig. 14A ).

Phenology:— Flowers between December and January.

Taxonomic notes:— Menonvillea famatinensis is distinguished from M. scapigera by having tufted, strongly dentate (vs. pinnatifid to pinnately lobed) basal leaves and racemes shorter (vs. conspicuously longer) than basal leaves. Boelcke (1951) distinguished var. famatinensis from var. sphaerocarpa mainly by having in the former ovoid fruits with irregularly erose wings (vs. broadly ellipsoid to oblong fruits with entire and undulate wings). Given that these characters are variable, we decided not to recognize infraspecific taxa in M. famatinensis .

Representative Specimen:— ARGENTINA. La Rioja: Depto. Famatina, Pampa de Tambería , 20 December 2011, Barboza et al. 3360 ( CORD) .

Figures

FIGURE 14. Distribution of species of Menonvillea sect. Scapigera. A, M. famatinensis. B, M. scapigera subsp. scapigera. C, M. scapigera subsp. longipes. D, M. zuloagaensis.