Ipomopsis polycladon is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name manybranched ipomopsis. It is native to much of the western United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy soils such as those of the deserts. This is an annual herb producing a number of horizontal red stems extending outward from the short central stem. Leaves appear at the ends and axils of branches. Each leaf is multilobed, and mostly green but often red-tipped, and less than 2 centimeters long. Stems and leaves are covered with woolly glandular hairs. The long stem branches bear inflorescences of leaflike bracts which are green with sharp-pointed red tips, and tiny white flowers a few millimeters across.
Taxonomy When Ipomopsis polycladon was scientifically described it was placed in Gilia by John Torrey in 1859. The botanist Otto Kuntze proposed moving it to Navarretia in 1891 and Verne Grant placed it in Ipomopsis in 1956, giving the species its accepted name. Together with its genus it is part of the Polemoniaceae family and the species has no accepted varieties, but one named mexicana was proposed by August Brand in 1907. This gives the species a total of three synonyms.
Table of Synonyms Name Year Rank Notes Gilia polycladon 1859 species ≡ hom. Gilia polycladon var. mexicana 1907 variety = het. Navarretia polycladon 1891 species ≡ hom. Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym
References Citations
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External links
Jepson Manual Treatment Photo gallery