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FOC | Family List | FOC Vol. 19 | Morinaceae

2. Morina Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 28. 1753.

刺参属 ci shen shu

Asaphes Sprengel (1827), not Candolle (1825); Cryptothladia (Bunge) M. J. Cannon; Morina sect. Cryptothladia Bunge.

Roots usually thickened, branched. Caudex short, woody, usually covered with remnants of leaf bases. Leaves in whorls of 3 or 4(-6), rarely 2, opposite, linear to oblong-lanceolate, entire to pinnatipartite, spinose. Inflorescence of several verticillasters, each subtended by a whorl of leaflike bracts. Flowers sessile or shortly pedicellate, enveloped in an involucel; involucels campanulate, with 8-16 spiny teeth, 2 significantly longer than others. Calyx tube oblique, campanulate; limb 2-lipped, lips 2- or 3-lobed or emarginate. Corolla tube elongate; limb spreading, 2-lipped; upper lip 2-lobed, lower one 3-lobed. Fertile stamens 2, inserted at corolla throat; staminodes 2, at base of corolla tube, cordate. Nectary 1, anterior, at base of corolla tube, 3-lobed. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed, enveloped in an involucel; style usually longer than stamens; stigma disklike; ovule single, pendulous. Achenes rugose, columnar, slightly or markedly obliquely truncate.

About ten species: from the Balkans to C Asia and E Himalaya; eight species (four endemic) in China.

Cannon and Cannon (Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Bot. 12(1): 1-35. 1984) treated Cryptothladia at the rank of genus, separating it from Morina. Hong (Novon 20: 418-419. 2010) has explained why this taxon would be better merged into the genus Morina.

Cannon and Cannon (loc. cit.: 18) stated that Morina parviflora Karelin & Kirilov (Cryptothladia parviflora (Karelin & Kirilov) M. J. Cannon) occurred on the border of Kazakhstan with China (Dzungarian Alatau). However, we have not seen any specimens that could be identified as this species.


1 Involucral bracts connate, forming shallow cups; involucel teeth much shorter than tube (1/2 or less as long as tube).   6 M. polyphylla
+ Involucral bracts free; involucel teeth at least 2/3 as long as tube   (2)
       
2 (1) Leaves with petioles 4-8 cm; leaf margins spinose, rarely sinuate-dentate   (3)
+ Leaves sessile or subsessile; leaf margins mostly lobed, less frequently entire   (4)
       
3 (2) Involucral bracts acuminate at apex, spinose along whole margins; calyx lips 2-lobed, lobes lanceolate, 5-6 mm; middle and upper cauline leaves petiolate.   1 M. chlorantha
+ Involucral bracts acute or rounded at apex, spinose only at base; calyx emarginate; middle and upper cauline leaves subsessile.   2 M. bracteata
       
4 (2) Leaves entire or slightly toothed; flowers in 20 or more closely packed whorls of 8-12.   5 M. ludlowii
+ Leaves lobed; flowers in fewer, usually interrupted, whorls   (5)
       
5 (4) Corolla 2-3 cm, greatly exceeding calyx, obviously 5-lobed; staminodes inserted at middle part of corolla tube   (6)
+ Corolla less than 1 cm, almost hidden by calyx, weakly lobed with 2 or 4 major lobes; staminodes inserted at base of corolla tube   (7)
       
6 (5) Involucral bracts broadly ovate or orbicular, ca. as long as wide (excluding pointed apex); calyx covered by involucral bracts.   7 M. longifolia
+ Involucral bracts broadly ovate-lanceolate, much longer than wide; calyx exposed.   8 M. coulteriana
       
7 (5) Calyx lobes 4, ovate, apex rounded; leaves shallowly lobed.   3 M. chinensis
+ Calyx lobes 4-6, narrowly ovate or ovate-lanceolate, apex usually spinose; leaves cleft almost to midvein.   4 M. kokonorica

Lower Taxa


 

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