Clintonia

Clintonia is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family Liliaceae.[1] Plants of the genus are distributed across the temperate regions of North America and eastern Asia[2][3] in the mesic understory of deciduous or coniferous forests.[4] The genus was first described by Rafinesque in 1818.[5] It was named for DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828), a naturalist and politician from the U.S. state of New York.[6]

For the Stag Line ship, see SS Clintonia.

Clintonia
Fruits of Clintonia borealis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Subfamily: Lilioideae
Tribe: Medeoleae
Genus: Clintonia
Raf. 1818
Synonyms
  • Hylocharis Regel & Tiling
  • Xeniatrum Salisb.

Description

The genus Clintonia is morphologically diverse.[4] Species are herbaceous perennial plants growing from rhizomatous underground stems with thin, fibrous roots. They grow from 1.5 to 8 dm tall. They have 2 to 6 basal leaves arising from the rhizome crown, the basal leaves are sessile and sheathing, and the cauline leaves have a stalk. The blade of each leaf has a prominent central vein and entire margins, and the bottom ends are obovate to oblanceolate in shape. The leaf apex is acute to abruptly short-acuminate, often mucronate (ending abruptly in a short sharp point). The inflorescences are terminal, and the flowers are arranged into short racemes or umbel-like clusters, with 1 to 45 flowers. The flowers have 6 tepals with nectaries present. The stamens are inserted at the base of the perianth, and the anthers are oblong-obovate to oblong-linear shaped. The rounded to cylinder shaped ovary is superior with two chambers (sometime three). Each chamber produces 2 to 10 ovules. The smooth fruits are berry-like, round to egg-shaped, metallic blue to black in color. Four to thirty seeds are produced in each fruit and the seeds are shiny brown, round and the ends are angled with 2 or 3 faces.[7][8][4]

Taxonomy

As of August 2020, Plants of the World Online (POWO) accepts the following species in the genus Clintonia Raf.:[2]

POWO also accepts the infraspecies Clintonia udensis var. alpina (Kunth ex Baker) H.Hara but some authorities do not accept this name.[9]

Molecular phylogenetic studies demonstrate two major disjunct clades, in eastern Asia and in North America respectively, and with the latter in East and in West. Within the family Liliaceae, Clintonia is a sister group to Medeola.[4]

Distribution

North America

Four species of Clintonia occur in North America, two in the west and two in the east:

Canada

The species C. borealis is also known to occur on the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon,[14] a French territory near the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

United States

Asia

One species of Clintonia is native to Asia. The species C. udensis occurs in eastern Asia, from the Russian Far East in North Asia to Myanmar in Southeast Asia, extending from the Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean to the Western Himalaya region.[15]

  • Bhutan: C. udensis
  • China (Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan): C. udensis
  • India (Assam, Sikkim): C. udensis
  • Japan: C. udensis
  • Korea: C. udensis
  • Myanmar: C. udensis
  • Nepal: C. udensis
  • Russia (Khabarovsk, Kuril Islands, Primorsky, Sakhalin): C. udensis

Ecology

Spring blooming.[4]

Cultivation

Clintonia species are cultivated as garden subjects in shade gardens, grown for the glossy foliage, small lily-like flowers, and blue fruits, and their ability to live in heavy shade. They grow best in cool, organic-rich, acid soils that retain moisture and when grown well form dense slowly spreading clumps.[16]

Clintonia species
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References
  1. "Clintonia". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. "Clintonia Raf.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  3. "Clintonia". County-level distribution maps from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  4. Hayashi et al 2001.
  5. Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel (1818). "Flora Americae Septentrionalis, or a systematic arrangement and description of the plants of North America by Frederick Pursh". Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 2 (3): 170–176.
  6. Quattrocchi, Umberto (3 May 2012). CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology. CRC Press. p. 1023. ISBN 978-1-4200-8044-5.
  7. Utech, Frederick H. (2002). "Clintonia". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 26. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  8. Chen, Xinqi; Tamura, Minoru N. "Clintonia". Flora of China. 24 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  9. "Clintonia udensis var. alpina (Kunth ex Baker) H.Hara". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  10. "Clintonia andrewsiana Torr.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  11. "Clintonia borealis (Aiton) Raf.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  12. "Clintonia umbellulata (Michx.) Morong". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  13. "Clintonia uniflora (Menzies ex Schult. & Schult.f.) Kunth". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  14. Utech, Frederick H. (2002). "Clintonia borealis". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 26. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  15. "Clintonia udensis Trautv. & C.A.Mey.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  16. William Cullina (2000). The New England Wild Flower Society Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 78–. ISBN 0-395-96609-4.

Bibliography
  • Hayashi, Kazuhiko; Yoshida, Seiji; Utech, Frederick H.; Kawano, Shoichi (August 2001). "Molecular systematics in the genus Clintonia and related taxa based on rbcL and matK gene sequence data". Plant Species Biology. 16 (2): 119–137. doi:10.1046/j.1442-1984.2001.00057.x.
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