Crocanthemum carolinianum

Crocanthemum carolinianum
Photo was taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Violales
Family:	Cistaceae
Genus:	Crocanthemum
Species:	C. carolinianum
Binomial name
Crocanthemum carolinianum (Walter) Michx.
Natural range of Crocanthemum carolinianum from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: Carolina frostweed

Taxonomic notes

Synonym: Helianthemum carolinianum (Walter) Michaux

Description

Crocanthemum carolinianum is a perennial herbaceous species.

Generally, for the Crocanthemum genus, they are erect, heraceous or suffrutescent perennials with alternate, stellate-pubescent leaves. There are two types of flowers, chasmogamous and cleistogamous. Chasmogamous flowers are on the pedicels that elongate to usually more than 1 cm long with large showy, tallow petals; there are numerous stamens and large sepals. The cleistogamous flowers are on the pedicels are usually less than 3 mm long, where the petals are absent, the stamens are few and the sepals are smaller than those of the chasmogamous flowers. The sepals are in 2 whorls, the outer are narrower than the inner. The capsule is 3-locular (Radford 1964).

Specifically, for Crocanthemum carolinianum species, the roots have tuberous thickenings, the stems grow 1-3 dm tall, are pilose, arising from a basal rosettes of leaves. The leaves are widely elliptic to obovate, or nearly lanceolate, growing 2-5 cm long, and 0.7-2 cm wide, stellate pubescent on both surfaces, with longer trichomes above; basal leaves are often somewhat erose,usually larger than the stem leaves; the petioles grow 1-3 mm long. The cleistogamous flowers are absent. The chasmogamous flowers are solitary, are opposite a leaf (or appearing internodal). There are 6 sepals, the outer 3 linear, growing 5-10 mm long, are acute to acuminate, stellate pubescent; the petals growing 1.5-2 cm long. The capsules are globose to subglobose, growing 7-9 mm long. The seeds are reddish black in color, papillose, and growing 0.8-1 mm long (Radford 1964).

Ecology

Habitat

C. carolinianum can be found in longleaf pine-wiregrass savannas, as well as some disturbed areas, like mowed areas and fields (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

Flowering has been observed in February, March, and April (FSU Herbarium).

===Fire ecology===--> This species occurs in habitat that burns frequently (FSU Herbarium).

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Robert K. Godfrey, Chris Cooksey, R. Komarek, Loran C. Anderson, and Richard R. Clinebell II. States and Counties: Florida: Leon. Georgia: Grady and Thomas.

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. 718-9. Print.