Overview of the genus Baptisia (Leguminosae)

Abstract

Preparation of a treatment of Baptisia for the Flora of North America (FNA) has occasioned the present study. Seventeen species are recognized, three of these each having two allopatric intergrading varieties: B. australis (varieties australis and minor); B. lactea (varieties lactea and pendula); and B. lanceolata (varieties lanceolata and elliptica). Maps showing the distribution of all taxa by state and county are provided, largely because the FNA format shows the distribution of taxa by state only (a single dot centered in the center of a state's outline). My overview follows closely the treatments accorded the genus by Isely (1981, 1998), except that I have arranged these by clades, as suggested by the study of Mendenhall (1994). Additionally, I have had to erect two new names for the complex, as follows: B. lactea var. pendula (Larisey) B.L. Turner, comb. nov. (= B. lactea var. obovata [Larisey] Isely); and B. lanceolata var. elliptica (Small) B.L. Turner, comb. nov. (= B. lanceolata var. tomentosa (Larisey) Isely).