Keckiella

 (Scrophulariaceae)
Chelonaceae

©The World Botanical Associates Web Page
Prepared by Richard W. Spjut
August 2006, Dec 2012, May 2014, June 2015

Keckiella antirrhinoides

San Diego Co., CA: 10 miles W of El Campo
April 1973

Keckiella antirrhinoides ssp.microphylla

Arizona: Gila Co., Dripping Springs Mts.,
April 2008, SPJ-16245

Keckiella breviflora var. breviflora

CA: Tehachapi Mts., Tejon Ranch
June  2012

  

Keckiella breviflora var. breviflora

CA: Kern River Canyon
9 May 2014

 

Keckiella breviflora var. glabrisepala

California—Southwestern Sierra Nevada. Fresno Co, Sierra NF: Along Willow Creek just northwest of the town of North Fork, south of Bass Lake, Forest Road 7S09; 37º15'51.0", 119º29.54.2", 910 m.  Riparian.  Forest in region of mosaic oak woodland and mixed evergreen forest. Shrub with mostly green stems; flowers pale lavender and white.   Richard Spjut & Paul Burchstead 16327, 6 June 2008

Keckiella cordifolia

San Diego Co., CA: Peninsular Ranges, above Pala, near Riverside Co. line.
June 2002, S & M 14794

 

Keckiella corymbosa

CA: Salmon River Canyon between Forks of the Salmon and Somes Bar, August 2006
  

Keckiella rothrockii

Kern Plateau, Tulare Co., CA
26 June 2015


 

 

 

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Nov 2012)

 

Keckiella (Chelonaceae). Subshrubs. leaves opposite, whorled, or upper alternate; flowers of united tubular petals (corolla), divided apically into three lower reflexed lobes and two upper hood-like lobes, or more tubular and fuchsia-like with erect lobes in K. ternata; fertile stamens four extending beyond the lower lobes or tube, appearing partially hooded by the upper lobes, densely hairy at base, anthers divergent; staminode well-developed, hairy in two species, lacking hair in K. ternata. Fruit: a septicidal capsule, partly loculicidal apically, often persisting after seeds have been dispersed, brown, cartilaginous, seeds numerous, angular or wing-like.  ±7 species, California, southern Nevada, southern Arizona, and Baja California.

Key to Species of Keckiella

1. Flowers/fruits attached directly to stems; leaves short and tongue-like,
1–2× longer than wide.......................................................... Keckiella rothrockii

1. Flowers/fruits several or more clustered on short lateral floral
branches or peduncles; leaves narrowly elliptic, 2–4× longer
than wide............................................................................................................ 2

 

2. Flowers red; leaves often in whorls of three, recurved
to reflexed................................................................................. Keckiella ternata

2. Flowers white to cream or tinged rose; leaves opposite,
spreading............................................................................... Keckiella breviflora

 

Keckiella breviflora (Penstemon breviflorus Lindley 1837) Straw 1967 var. breviflora. Subshrub with leafy branched stems to 0.75 m and erect undivided flowering scapes extending above to another 1.5 m, generally not over 2 m tall and 2 m broad; leaves opposite, narrowly elliptic to widest above or below mid region, 3–4× longer than wide, 1–5 (7) cm long, slightly keeled. Flowers May–Jul, 12–18 mm, white flushed with rose and with purplish guidelines, reddish orange and yellow in bud, conspicuously with long white stiff erect hairs and less conspicuous shorter glandular hairs, the upper lobe (lip) hooded over the stamens, lower lobes curled downwards; calyx glandular;  capsules 5–8 mm, persisting without seeds through the winter in dry seasons. Rocky slopes, forest, chaparral below 6,600 ft , Transverse and South Coast Ranges to San Francisco region. Type from Santa Lucia Mts., CA. Kern Co.: “Occasional in the mountains mostly in the Douglas oak woodland and the chaparral where it grows around rock outcrops” (Twisselmann), 600–2,400 m (CCH).

Keckiella rothrockii (Penstemon rothrockii A. Gray 1878) Straw 1967 var. rothrockii. Low wiry-stemmed, diffusely branched subshrub, to 60 cm high and wide; leaves nearly opposite or in 3’s, tongue like to broadly elliptic, more tapered to apex than base, 1–2× longer than wide, 0.5–1.6 cm long, often contorted. Flowers Jun–Aug, 7–11 mm, pale yellow or orange brown with purplish lines, reddish orange and yellow in bud, with inconspicuous short hairs, the upper erect (lip), lower lobes spreading; calyx sometimes glandular;  capsules 5–7 mm, valves barely separating. Conifer forest, pinyon-juniper woodland; 5,000–10,000 ft. Central and southern Sierra Nevada, and desert ranges to the east, to Nevada. Kern Co.: Rare, Kern Plateau rugged ridges southeast of Pine Flat (Twisselmann) and along the Pacific Crest Trail on the east side of Mt. Jenkins, 2,119–2,377 m (CCH).

Keckiella ternata (Penstemon ternatus Torrey ex A. Gray 1859 ) Straw 1967 var. septentrionalis (Penstemon ternatus var. septentrionalis Munz & I.M. Johnston 1924) N.H. Holmgren 1992. Loosely branched broad shrub with long erect flowering scapes, to 2.5 m; stems glaucous; leaves in whorls of 3, or lower ones opposite, nearly elliptical, or boat shaped (curled upward lengthwise), wider below or above the mid region, 3–4× longer than wide, 1.5–6 cm long, tapering at both ends, toothed along margins.  Flowers Jun–Sep, red, fuchsia-like, glandular-hairy; calyx 3.8–5.5 mm, with minute gland-tipped hairs. Mixed-hardwood forest, chaparral, 2,500 –6,500 ft. Transverse Ranges, Tehachapi Mountains.  Type from Oak Grove Canyon, Liebre Mts. Kern Co.: “Occasional in the Douglas oak woodland in the southwestern end of the Tehachapi Mountain” (Twisselmann), 1707 m (Mount Pinos region, near mouth of Cold Springs Canyon, 1.7 road mi. E. of Lake-of-the-Woods, W. of Frazier Park, NW 1/4 of S. 35 T. 9 N., R. 20 W; CCH).