Linum floridanum

Linum floridanum
Photo by Wayne Matchett, SpaceCoastWildflowers.com
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Linales
Family:	Linaceae
Genus:	Linum
Species:	L. floridanum
Binomial name
Linum floridanum (Planch.) Trel.
Natural range of Linum floridanum from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: Florida yellow flax

Taxonomic notes

Synonym: Linum floridanum (Planchon) Trelease var. chrysocarpum C.M. Rogers; L. virginianum var. floridanum Planchon; Cathartolinum floridanum (Planchon) Small

Description

"Annual, biennial, or short lived perennial herbs with 1-several strict stems from a crown, usually branched above. Leaves cauline, opposite or alternate, entire, acute to acuminate, sessile, exstipulate. Inflorescence a panicle of racemes or cymes. Flower perfect, actinomorphic, pedicellate; sepals 5, separate or basally adnate; pistil 5-carpellate, styles 5, each carpel divided at maturity, the pistil then appearing 10-carpellate. Seeds lustrous brown, obovoid to ellipsoid." - Radford et al 1964

"Perennial with 1-several stems 3-8 dm tall, from a crown. Leaves mostly alternate, lowest often opposite, narrowly elliptic to linear, 0.8-2.5 cm long, 1-7 mm wide, acute. Pedicels 1-3 mm long. Sepals lanceolate, 2-3 mm long, acute to acuminate, entire or glandular serrate; petals yellow, 4-8 mm long. Capsule ovoid or oblate, 1.3-3 mm long. Seeds 1-1.3 mm long." - Radford et al 1964

"Leaves 0.8-5 mm wide. Branches of inflorescence ascending. Inner sepals densely glandular serrulate. Capsule ovoid, 2-3 mm long." - Radford et al 1964

Ecology

Habitat

This species can be found in open wiregrass seepage savannas, longleaf pine forests, and disturbed areas such as ditches (FSU Herbarium). The soils have been observed to be moist and/or dry loamy sands within well-drained uplands (FSU Herbarium). Associated species include Pinus palutris, Aristida stricta, Sarracenia, and Harperocallis (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

This species has been observed flowering in June (FSU Herbarium).

Seed dispersal

According to Kay Kirkman, a plant ecologist, this species disperses by gravity.

Fire ecology

This species occurs in areas that are annually burned (FSU Herbarium). In an open wet pine savanna in Mississippi, the highest densities of flowering stalks for L. floridanum were observed one year after fire (Hinman and Brewer 2007).

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, M. Davis, Robert K. Godfrey, R. Komarek, Cecil R. Slaughter. States and Counties: Florida: Baker, Liberty, and Wakulla. Georgia: Thomas.

Hinman, S. E. and J. S. Brewer (2007). "Responses of two frequently-burned wet pine savannas to an extended period without fire." Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 134: 512-526.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 645-6. Print.