KEY TO TEXAS SPECIES

1. Flower clusters single and terminal (very rarely two); stamens exserted beyond upper lip (2)

1. Flower clusters two or more, both axillary and terminal (rarely 1 on depauperate plants); stamens not exserted (5)

2. Corollas white to pale pink, the lower lips markedly red- spotted; midstem leaves with petioles mostly 1-3 mm long; plants of border areas of northeastern Texas .....M. russeliana

2. Corollas white to pale lavender, the lower lips not markedly red-spotted; midstem leaves with petioles 3 mm long or more (3)

3. Corollas deep pink to lavender; trans-Pecos Texas ..... M. fistulosa   var. menthifolia

3. Corollas white to pale pink to pale lavender; eastern Texas (4)

4. Corollas white; midstem leaves with petioles mostly 3-7 mm long, or if somewhat longer then to some extent pilose with spreading hairs .....M. lindheimeri

4. Corollas pale pink to pale lavender; midstem leaves with petioles mostly 8 mm long or more, never pilose with spreading hairs .....M. fistulosa  var. mollis

5. Leaves linear, mostly 1-3 mm wide, densely and evenly minutely appressed-strigose throughout, the foliage ashy-white; southern-most Texas .....M. fruticulosa

5. Leaves variously lanceolate, mostly 4 mm wide or more, variously pubescent but not as described in the above (6)

6. Suffruticose sprawling shrublets or shrubs to 1 m high; stems with spreading pilose hairs 1-2 mm long; southernmost coastal Texas (Kleberg to Refugio counties) .....M. maritima

6. Annual or stiffly erect perennial herbs, never shrublets or shrubs; stems w/o pilose hairs 1-2 mm long (7)

7. Leaves (on primary stems) linear-lanceolate, mostly 4-6 mm wide; stems with vestiture of short hairs spreading at right angles to stem (rarely downcurved); mostly Carrizo sands of southcentral Texas .....M. viridissima

7. Leaves lanceolate-ovate to ovate, mostly 7 mm wide or more; stems with vestiture various, mostly down-curved but not as described in the above; widespread (8)

8. Calyx lobes variously deltoid, 1-3 times as long as wide (9)

8. Calyx lobes narrowly subulate or attenuate or awned, (3-)5-10 times as long as wide (including awns) (10)

9. Calyx mouth manifestly closed by a dense mass of white hairs arising at its orifice; tube of corolla glabrous; central mineral region of Texas and closely adjacent areas in granite or sandy soils, mostly along the Colorado River or its tributaries .....M. stanfieldii

9. Calyx mouth not as described in the above, the orifice merely ciliate; tube of corolla pubescent; widespread .....M. punctata

10. Bracts of floral clusters mostly elliptical to oblanceolate, abruptly narrowed into a bristle-tip .....M. citriodora

10. Bracts of floral clusters lanceolate, gradually tapering into a terminal bristle (11)

11. Bracts and calyx lobes mostly purplish; corollas purplish; plants mostly 30-60 cm high .....M. clinopodioides

11. Bracts and calyx lobes mostly greenish; corollas yellowish to creamy white; plants mostly 20-40 cm high .....M. pectinata

Descriptions

MONARDA CITRIODORA Cerv. ex Lag., Gen. Sp. Nov. 2, 1816.

This is a widespread highly variable species as noted by McClintock & Epling (1942) and Scora (1967). The former workers recognized Monarda citriodora  , M. austromontana  Epling and M. mexicana  Epling as good species, while Scora (1967) recognized only the latter as distinct, reducing M. austromontana  to subspecific rank. We recognize only two varieties for Texas under the M. citriodora species-complex, as follows:

1. Calyx tubes mostly 5-7 mm long; corollas tubes 8-11 mm long; coastal region of southern Texas .....var. parva

1. Calyx tubes mostly 7-15 mm long; corolla tubes 11-18 mm long; widespread .....var. citriodora

var. CITRIODORA Cerv. ex Lag.

COMMON HORSEMINT

Monarda aristata  Nutt.

Monarda citriodora  Cerv. ex Lag. var. attenuata  Scora

Monarda citriodora  Cerv. ex Lag. subsp. citriodora

Monarda dispersa  Small

Monarda tenuiaristata  A. Gray ex Small

Common and widespread in the southcentral U.S. from Missouri to Texas and southwards into Mexico; Apr-Oct.

This taxon is discussed in more detail by Turner (1995).

Named for its lemony or citrus-like odor when crushed.

var. PARVA Scora, Madroño 18: 129. 1965.

SMALL-FLOWER HORSEMINT

Southcentral Texas in mostly clay or sandy-clay soils; Apr-Jul.

This name has been applied to localized populations along the Gulf Coastal regions of southern Texas which mostly occur in heavy clay soils and are apparently "fixed" in their genetic proclivity for the production of reduced flowers. Such "forms" were first called to the fore by McClintock & Epling (1942, p. 192), as noted by Scora in his formalized description of the taxon.

Named for its reduced corollas.

---

MONARDA CLINOPODIOIDES A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2: 375. 1878.

EAST TEXAS HORSEMINT

Monarda aristata  Hook.

Mostly eastern Texas in sandy clay soils; Apr-Jun.

Monarda clinopodioides  is similar to M. pectinata  Nutt., but in Texas these two taxa have quite different distributions, although McClintock & Epling (1942) cite questionable specimens of the latter from central Texas which we take to be misidentifications or possibly, adventive weeds in this region.

Named for its resemblance to members of the genus Clinopodium (Lamiaceae).

---

MONARDA FISTULOSA L., Sp. Pl. 1: 22. 1753.

NEW ENGLAND HORSEMINT

This is a widespread highly variable species of temperate North America. Several workers have recognized two or more regional varieties in the complex. The var. fistulosa is thought to be largely confined to the upper New England states. Following most workers, we also recognize but two regional varieties occurring in Texas. These can be recognized by the following couplet:

1. Stems simple, rarely branched; midstem leaves with petioles mostly 2-8 mm long; trans-Pecos Texas and Mexico .....var. menthifolia

1. Stems tall and branched; midstem leaves with petioles mostly 8-30 mm long; eastern Texas and eastern U.S.A. .....var. mollis

var. MENTHIFOLIA (Graham) Fernald, Rhodora 46: 495. 1944.

WESTERN MINT-SCENTED HORSEMINT

Western Texas in mostly montane habitats; May-Jul.

As indicated in the above, this is the westernmost variety of Monarda fistulosa . Scora (1967) also accepted it as varietally distinct.

Named for the minty smell of its leaves when crushed.

var. MOLLIS (L.) Benth., Lab. Gen. Sp. 217. 1833.

EASTERN MINT-SCENTED HORSEMINT

Eastern Texas in mostly sandy soils; May-Jul.

This taxon is relatively common in easternmost Texas extending into our region from the eastern U.S.A. Based on McClintock & Epling's (1942) treatment and from our own examination of a wide set of specimens, it is likely that var. mollis will ultimately be subsumed under the typical var. fistulosa, there being little morphogeographical coherence of the characters used to distinguish between the two taxa.

Named for its softly pubescent foliage.

---

MONARDA FRUTICULOSA Epling, Madroño 3: 26. 1935.

SOUTH TEXAS HORSEMINT

Monarda punctata  var. fruticulosa  (Epling) Scora

Endemic to south Texas in mostly sandy soils; Mar-Dec.

Suffruticose herbs to 80 cm high; easily distinguished by its very narrow greyish-green leaves.

McClintock and Epling (1942) recognized this taxon as a good species; Scora reduced it to a variety of M. punctata . We favor its treatment as a species since it appears not to intergrade with any of the infraspecific elements of M. punctata  recognized here.

Named for its brittle stems or subshrubby habit.

---

MONARDA LINDHEIMERI Engelm. & A. Gray, Boston J. Nat. Hist. 5: 228. 1847.

LINDHEIMER'S HORSEMINT

Monarda hirsutissima  Small

Eastern Texas and closely adjacent states, mostly sandy soils; Apr-Jun.

Closely related to M. fistulosa  but distinguished by the key characters given.

Scora (1967) noted M. lindheimeri  to be easily distinguished from M. fistulosa  by its "lax and branched glomerules, by its sharp-angled stems ... shorter petioles and more ovate leaves".

Named for F. Lindheimer (1801-1879), early Texas botanist.

---

MONARDA MARITIMA (Cory) B.L. Turner, Phytologia 77: 72. 1994.

SHRUBBY HORSEMINT

Monarda punctata  L. var. maritima  Cory

Sandy soils of southern Texas; May-Sep.

Shinners (1983) and Scora (1967) retained this well-marked taxon at the varietal level. We have no hesitation in recognizing its specific status much as did Correll and Johnston (1970), the taxon essentially confined to the deep sandy soils of southern Texas and does not appear to intergrade with any of the several other Monarda taxa in this area, although the occasional hybrid between these might be expected.

Named for its tendency to occur along the ocean or maritime areas.

---

MONARDA PECTINATA Nutt., J. Acad. Phila., ser. 2, 1: 182. 1847.

GRASSLAND HORSEMINT

This is a widespread variable species of the short grass prairie regions of southcentral U.S.A.; May-Sep.

Monarda pectinata  might be confused with Monarda citriodora  var. citriodora , but the latter is a more eastern plant, having larger flower glomerules, and more expanded, more abruptly contracted glomerular bracts. In Texas the occasional hybrid probably occurs between M. pectinata  and M. citriodora , at least what appear to be putative hybrids (e.g., Young s.n., 9 Sep 1918 TEX, so annotated by Epling) occur in trans-Pecos, Texas (Jeff Davis Mts.), where the two taxa occur together or within close proximity.

---

MONARDA PUNCTATA L., Sp. Pl. 1: 22. 1753.

This is a widespread variable species of the eastern portions of North America. McClintock & Epling (1942) treated the species as having 8 subspecies, the typical subspecies largely confined to the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal regions of the U.S.A. Scora (1967) maintained all of these taxa, adding 3 additional ones, bringing to 11 the number of infraspecific taxa recognized. He treated all of these at the varietal level; 9 of the 11 were said to occur in Texas. I have treated 4 of Scora's varieties as species (M. fruticulosa , M. maritima , M. stanfieldii , and M. viridissima ) believing these to be sympatric with M. punctata  (s.l.), each occupying a restricted ecogeographic region and showing but little intergradation with the various infraspecific taxa of M. punctata , although this is not to say that the occasional interspecific hybrid might not be found in regions of sympatry where this or that taxon occur together or in close proximity. Four of Scora's Texas varieties are recognized in addition to a fifth, var. correllii, newly described below. A key to these five varietal taxa follows.

Named for its glandular-punctate leaves.

Key to varieties of Monarda punctata

1. Calyx lobes with outer surfaces conspiculously pubescent with white spreading hairs 0.5-1.5 mm long (3)

1. Calyx lobes with outer surfaces and margins minutely hispidulous, w/o spreading white hairs (2)

2. Leaves strongly nervate, the nerves with mostly erect or ascending hairs; calyx lobes narrowly deltoid; Gulf Coastal grassland regions from Cameron County northwards.....var. punctata

2. Leaves weakly nervate, the nerves with appressed or incurved hairs, or glabrate; calyx lobes broadly deltoid; southcentral Texas and closely adjacent Mexico in red sandy soils.....var. correllii

3. Undersurfaces of leaves pubescent along the lower veins with erect or ascending hairs 0.3-1.0 mm long; eastern and southern Texas .....var. lasiodonta

3. Undersurfaces of leaves pubescent with appressed or incurved hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long; north central and western Texas (4)

4. Calyx teeth narrowly acute, ca. 2 times as long as wide; north central Texas .....var. intermedia

4. Calyx teeth broadly acute, ca. as long as wide or nearly so; western Texas .....var. occidentalis

var. PUNCTATA

GULF COAST HORSEMINT

Gulf coast regions of Texas and throughout much of the southeastern U.S.A.; May-Oct.

This infraspecific taxon is readily recognized by its nonpilose narrowly deltoid calyx lobes and strongly nervate leaves. Inland it appears to grade into var. correllii and var. lasiodonta. Scora (1967) did not cite material of this taxon from Texas, apparently believing that its coastal distribution petered out in Louisiana, but I can not distinguish the Gulf Coastal material of Texas from that of Louisiana and other Gulf states.

var. CORRELLII B.L. Turner, Phytologia 77: 74. 1994.

CORRELL'S HORSEMINT

South central Texas and closely adjacent Mexico; Mar-Jul.

Suffruticose perennial herbs to 1 m high. Midstems with minute recurved arcuate hairs mostly 0.1-0.2 mm high. Corollas reportedly white or creamy white. Calyx lobes triangular, similar to those of var. lasiodonta but completely devoid of long ciliate hairs. Nutlets brown, ovoid, glabrous, ca. 2.1 mm long, 0.6 mm wide.

Previous workers have referred most of the plants which I have posited here to var. coryi. I consider the latter to be a synonym of var. lasiodonta, which is readily distinguished from var. correllii by having pilose calyx lobes. The calyx lobes of var. correllii are quite similar to those of the coastal var. punctata, both lacking pilose hairs.

Named for D.S. Correll, well-known botanist (1908-1982) and coauthor of the Vascular Flora of Texas.

var. INTERMEDIA (McClintock & Epling) Waterfall, Rhodora 52: 38. 1950.

DALLAS HORSEMINT

Monarda punctata  subsp. intermedia  McClintock & Epling

This taxon occurs in north central Texas, peripheral populations seemingly passing into var. lasiodonta in regions of near contact.

Named for its seemingly intermediate morphology to two other Monarda taxa.

var. LASIODONTA A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2: 375. 1878.

TEXAS HORSEMINT

Monarda lasiodonta  (A. Gray) Small

Monarda punctata  var. coryi  (McClintock & Epling) Cory

Monarda punctata  L. subsp. immaculata  Pennell

Monarda punctata  L. var. immaculata  (Pennell) Scora

This, the earliest described Texas variety, was treated by McClintock & Epling (1942) as a questionable synonym of subsp. villicaulis Pennell, a taxon not occurring in Texas as treated here. Both Shinners (1953) and Scora (1967) recognized var. lasiodonta as a Texas endemic, although they both maintained var. immaculata as distinct, as do we.

Named, presumably, for its rough teeth on the leaf margins.

var. OCCIDENTALIS (Epling) Palmer & Steyermark, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 22: 634. 1935

PANHANDLE HORSEMINT

Monarda punctata  L. subsp. occidentalis  Epling

This variety occurs in northwestern Texas and northwards and is relatively easily recognized, the more peripheral eastern populations showing little tendency to vary in the direction of its closest allopatric cohort, var. intermedia.

Named for its western distribution.

---

MONARDA RUSSELIANA Nutt. ex Sims, Bot. Mag. 511, t.2513. 1824.

RUSSEL'S HORSEMINT

This species is closely related to Monarda bradburiana  Beck, which has a more northerly distribution. According to Scora (1967) these two species show evidence of intergradation in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Correll & Johnston (1970) accredit M. bradburiana  to Texas, largely on the basis of a single unvouchered collection from Kerr County, Texas reported by McClintock & Epling (1942). Scora (1967), however, does not report having seen collections of the latter from Texas, nor have we.

Named, presumably, for some early American botanist.

---

MONARDA STANFIELDII Small, Fl. S.E. U.S. 1038, 1337. 1903.

STANFIELD'S MONARDA

Monarda punctata  var. stanfieldii  (Small) Cory

Monarda punctata  subsp. stanfieldii  (Small) Epling

Monarda stanfieldii  is a well-marked taxon largely confined to the granitic sands along the middle course of the Colorado River. McClintock & Epling (1942) recognized the taxon as a subspecies of M. punctata , while both Shinners (1953) and Scora (1967) accepted its varietal status. I have found no suggestion that it intergrades with any element of M. punctata , in spite of its sympatry with that species (mainly var. lasiodonta).

Named for S.W. Stanfield (1856-1925?), Professor at Southwest Texas Teachers College, San Marcos, Texas (1903-1921).

---

MONARDA VIRIDISSIMA Correll, Wrightia 9: 76. 1968.

CARRIZO MONARDA

This taxon was described subsequent to Scora's (1967) taxonomic study. Scora included collections of the taxon in his concept of Monarda punctata  var. lasiodonta .

Monarda viridissima  is a fall-flowering taxon known by numerous collections, these largely confined to sands of the Carrizo geological formation in central Texas where it grows with or near M. punctata  without signs of intergradation, although the occasional hybrid between these might be expected.

Correll & Johnston (1970) took Monarda punctata  var. immaculata  to be a synonym of M. viridissima , but examination of the type of the former (from Goliad Co., Texas) shows it to be synonymous with M. punctata  var. lasiodonta , which was recognized by Correll & Johnston.

Named for its rich deep green foliage.

return to Monarda page ; return to Mints homepage