Melampyrum lineare Desr.

Locations ofMelampyrum lineare Desr. in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Orobanchaceae
Botanical Name
Melampyrum lineare Desr.
Common Name
Cow-wheat
Synonym(s)
Melampyrum lineare Desr. var americanum (Michx.) Beauv.; Melampyrum lineare Desr. var. latifolium Bart.; Melampyrum lineare Desr. var. pectinatum (Pennell) Fern.
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Melampyrum lineare Desr.
Comments
Three varieties, var. americanum (Michx.) Beauverd, var. latifolium Barton, and var. pectinatum (Pennell) Fern., based predominately on leaf width and slight differences in toothing, have been ascribed to Virginia based on herbarium specimens. A study of this variation range-wide by Karoline Oldham at GMU came to the following conclusion: "The four purported varieties of M. lineare do not represent truly distinct taxonomic entities based on morphological data. Instead, morphological variation occurs along a continuum with no clear divisions between the putative varieties." This work is published in Rhodora: July 2017, Vol. 119, No. 979, pp. 224-259 - Karoline A. Oldham and Andrea Weeks: Varieties of Melampyrum lineare (Orobanchaceae) Revisited.
Habitat
Frequent in dry, acidic oak/heath forests, pine-oak/heath woodlands, clearings, various mesic to dry montane forests, often oak-dominated, in the mountains, rare in the n. Piedmont and in dry, sandy forests and clearings of the Coastal Plain; a seemingly anomalous population was recently found on the Eastern Shore.
Native Status
Native

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