Melampodium

blackfoots
Melampodium leucanthum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Millerieae[1][2]
Genus: Melampodium
L.
Type species
Melampodium americanum
L.
Synonyms[2][3]
  • Camutia bonat. ex Steud.
  • Melampodium sect. Alcina DC.
  • Pronacron Cass.
  • Zarabellia Cass.
  • Dysodium Rich. ex Pers.
  • Carnutia Baker
  • Alcina Cav.
  • Dysodium Rich.
  • Cargila Raf.
Plains Blackfoot (Melampodium leucanthum) (1913 illustration from Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. Illustrated flora of the northern states and Canada. Vol. 3: 459.

Melampodium is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family.[4][5]

These are rugged plants native to the tropical to subtropical regions that include Central America, Southwestern United States, California, Florida, the Caribbean, and South America. Most of the species can be found in Mexico, five in the Southwestern United States, and three are scattered in Colombia and Brazil.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Some sources say that the name Melampodium is derived from the Greek words μέλας (melas), meaning "black", and πόδιον (podion), meaning "foot". This refers to the color of the base of the stem and roots.[13] Members of the genus are commonly known as blackfoots.[14] Other authorities, however, maintain that this is in error, that the name comes from Melampus, a soothsayer of renown in Greek mythology.[6]

The genus consists of annuals and perennials or bushy plants, growing to a height of 1 m. When fully grown, they tend to fall over. They like average, well-drained soil, but can equally grow on rocky soil in deserts. They are moderately to highly drought- and heat-tolerant. Three species of the so-called white-rayed complex are xerophytic.[6]

The foliage varies from bright green to grey-green. The opposite leaves are narrow and about 2–5 cm long.[6]

The terminal flower heads are about 2.5 cm wide. They give a continuous display of white (only in the three species of the white-rayed complex), cream, or yellow daisylike ray florets, surrounding a darker orange center with the disc florets. These eight to 10 broad disc florets are functionally staminate. The five outer bracts are partially joined for about half their length.[6]

The numerous fruits are seed-like (they consist of inner involucral bracts each enclosing and fused with individual ray achenes), with a few narrow scales at their tip. They make this genus one of the most prolific of the summer annuals, with seedlings coming up constantly.[6]

The genus displays a large number of haploid chromosome numbers are based on 4 basic chromosome numbers (x = 9, 10, 11, 12).

Several cultivars of Melampodium leucanthum have been developed, such as 'Million Gold' and 'Showstar', mostly to achieve a more compact size.

Note: Melampodium has been labelled Sanvitalia speciosa in the horticultural trade, but this is an invalid name.[15]

Species[2][14][16][17]
  1. Melampodium americanum - Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico (from Tamaulipas to Chiapas)[18][19][20]
  2. Melampodium appendiculatum - Chihuahua, Sonora, Nayarit, Arizona
  3. Melampodium argophyllum - Coahuila, Nuevo León
  4. Melampodium aureum - Puebla, Oaxaca
  5. Melampodium bibractatum - Durango, State of Mexico, Guatemala
  6. Melampodium cinereum - Coahuila, Nuevo León, Texas, Missouri
  7. Melampodium costaricense - Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Nicaragua, Colombia
  8. Melampodium cupulatum - Sonora, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Baja California Sur
  9. Melampodium diffusum - Oaxaca, Philippines (probably introduced)
  10. Melampodium divaricatum - Brazil, Bolivia, West Indies, Venezuela, Colombia, Central America, Mexico, USA (FL AL LA AR)
  11. Melampodium glabribracteatum - Oaxaca
  12. Melampodium glabrum - Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán
  13. Melampodium gracile - Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Mexico (from Tamaulipas to Chiapas)
  14. Melampodium leucanthum - Chihuahua, USA (TX NM AZ OK KS CO)
  15. Melampodium linearilobum - Mexico, Central America
  16. Melampodium longicorne - Sonora, Arizona, New Mexico
  17. Melampodium longifolium - Mexico
  18. Melampodium longipes - Jalisco
  19. Melampodium longipilum - from Guatemala to San Luis Potosí
  20. Melampodium mayfieldii - Jalisco
  21. Melampodium microcephalum - from Guatemala to Jalisco
  22. Melampodium mimulifolium - Oaxaca
  23. Melampodium montanum - from Guatemala to Jalisco + San Luis Potosí
  24. Melampodium nayaritense - Durango, Nayarit
  25. Melampodium northingtonii - Oaxaca
  26. Melampodium nutans - Oaxaca, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán
  27. Melampodium paniculatum - from Oaxaca to Brazil
  28. Melampodium percussum
  29. Melampodium perfoliatum - Mexico, Central America, Cuba, California
  30. Melampodium pilosum - Guerrero, Michoacan
  31. Melampodium pringlei - Oaxaca, Puebla
  32. Melampodium repens - Veracruz
  33. Melampodium rosei - Sinaloa, Jalisco, Nayarit
  34. Melampodium sericeum - Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador
  35. Melampodium sinaloense - Sinaloa
  36. Melampodium sinuatum - Baja California Sur
  37. Melampodium strigosum - Chihuahua, Durango, D.F., Mexico State, Hidalgo, USA (AZ NM TX CO)
  38. Melampodium tenellum - Nayarit
  39. Melampodium tepicense - Nayarit, Jalisco

Formerly placed here

References

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  1. ↑ "Genus Melampodium". Taxonomy. UniProt. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
  3. ↑ "Genus: Melampodium L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 1996-09-17. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  4. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 921 in Latin
  5. ↑ Tropicos, Melampodium L.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Flora of North America Vol. 21 Page 34 Melampodium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 921. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 392. 1754.
  7. ↑ Turner, B.L. and R.M. King. 1962. A cytotaxonomic survey of Melampodium (Compositae-Heliantheae) Amer. J. Bot. 49:263-269.
  8. ↑ Stuessy, T. F. 1979. - Cladistics of Melampodium (Compositae). Taxon 28: 179-195.
  9. ↑ Crisci, J.V. & T.F. Stuessy. 1981. Un estudio taxonomico-numerico del genero Melampodium (Compositae, Heliantheae). XVIII Jornadas Argentinas de Botanica. San Miguel de Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina, 4/7-V-1981. Abstract, pp. 53–54.
  10. ↑ Stuessy, T.F. & J.V. Crisci. 1983. Phenetics of Melampodium (Compositae, Heliantheae). The Ohio Academy of Science, 92nd Annual Meeting Bowling Green State University. Ohio, USA, 22/24-IV-1983.
  11. ↑ Bohm, B.A., and Stuessy, T.F. 1992. Flavonoid variation in Melampodium (Asteraceae). Biochem. Syst. & Ecol. 19: 677-679.
  12. ↑ Seaman Fred C. - Fischer Nikolaus H. - Longipin, a new Melampolide from Melampodium longipes,1979
  13. ↑ Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. III: M-Q. CRC Press. p. 1647. ISBN 978-0-8493-2677-6.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Melampodium". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  15. ↑ UHER, J.: Sanvitalia speciosa in the horticultural trade: unknown origin, uncertain identity but no Sanvitalia. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2012, LX, No. 6, pp. 339–342
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "GRIN Species Records of Melampodium". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  17. ↑ Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution maps
  18. ↑ Strother, J. L. 1999. Compositae–Heliantheae s. l. 5: 1–232. In D.E. Breedlove (ed.) Flora of Chiapas. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
  19. ↑ Nash, D. L. 1976. Tribe V, Heliantheae. En: Nash, D.L. & Williams, L.O. (Eds), Flora of Guatemal a - Part XII. Fieldiana, Botany 24(12): 181–361, 503–570
  20. ↑ Berendsohn, W.G. & A.E. Araniva de González. 1989. Listado básico de la Flora Salvadorensis: Dicotyledonae, Sympetalae (pro parte): Labiatae, Bignoniaceae, Acanthaceae, Pedaliaceae, Martyniaceae, Gesneriaceae, Compositae. Cuscatlania 1(3): 290–1–290–13