Talinum mengesii W. Wolf, Amer. Midl. Naturalist 6: 153. 1920

Plants to 4 dm; roots elongate, fleshily woody. Stems ± erect, usually branching. Leaves sessile; blade terete, to 7 cm. Inflores-cences cymose, much overtopping leaves; peduncle scapelike, to 20 cm. Flowers: sepals deciduous, ovate, 3-4 mm; petals pink to rose-purple, obovate, 9-15 mm; stamens (40-)50-100; stigma 1, subcapitate. Capsules subglobose, sometimes trigonous, 3-4 mm. Seeds without arcuate ridges, 0.8-1 mm. 2n = 24, 48.

Flowering Apr-Oct. Woods, glades, barrens, cliffs, outcrops, rocky banks, sandstone, granite, gneiss, rarely limestone; 100-1000 m; Ala., Ga., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va.

Most populations of Phemeranthus mengesii are diploid but a few scattered in western Georgia are tetraploid, probably the result of autopolyploidy (W. H. Murdy and M. E. B. Carter 2001).

SELECTED REFERENCES

Carter, M. E. B. and W. H. Murdy. 1986. Divergence for sexual and asexual reproductive characters in Talinum mengesii (Portulacaceae). Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 113: 259-267. Montgomery, F. and D. Blake. 1969. Talinum mengesii Wolf from a new physiographic province. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 96: 719.