The genus Cassia is represented in Texas by 15 well-marked species. One of these, C. fasciculata, is a highly variable taxon composed of several intergrading infraspecific taxa. The following treatment is the result of several summers\u27 field work combined with distributional data and morphological study of herbarium material. In the present paper it has been necessary to make two new varietal combinations in C. fasciculata. Hence, in conformity with Article 17 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (1952), it seems desirable to give a somewhat detailed account of the distributional and morphological evidence which leads the author to treat the C. fasciculata complex as indicated

Turner, B. L.

English

Southern Methodist University

1955] THE CASSIA FASCICULATA COMPLEX IN TEXAS 87 conftuens may have been an effort to establish visual rela-tions as mentioned by Walls (10). More observations of this type of behavior are needed to establish the possibility that the seeking-behavior is a usual prelude to mating in Thamnophis and Natrix and that these aggregations result generally in polyandrous matings. REFERENCES CITED (1) BLANCHARD, F. N. and E. B. FINSTER (1922) A method of marking Jiving snakes for future recognition with a discussion of some problems and results. Ecology 14:334-347. (2) BREDER, C. M. (1946) On the mating behavior of free garter snakes associated with water. Copeia. 1946: 236-241. (3) DAVIS, D. D. (1936) Courtship and mating behavior in snakes. Zoo!. Ser., Field Mus. Nat. Hist. 20: 257-290. (4) FINNERAN, L. C. (1949) A sexual aggregation of the garter snake ThamnopM,9 butleri. Copeia, 1949: 141. (5) LOWE, C.H. JR. (1948) Territorial behavior in snakes and the so-called courtship dance. Herpetologica 4 ( 4) : 129-135. (6) MERTENS, R. (1946) Die Warn- unde Drohreaktionen der Reptilien. Abhandl. d. Senckenbergischen Naturforsch. Gesellsch., Abhandlungen 471: 1-88. (7) NOBLE, G. K. (1937) The sense organs involved in the courtship of Storeria,, Tha,nnophis and other snakes. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 73:673-725. (8) NOBLE, G. K. and H.J. CLAUSEN (1936) The aggregation behavior of Storeria, deka,yi and other snakes with especial ref-erence to the sense organs involved. Ecol. Monogr. 6:269-816. (9) PERRY, A. (1980) The mating behavior of water snakes. Copeia, no. 83: 49-50. (10) WALLS, G. L. (1942) The Vertebrate Eye and its Adaptive Radiation. Cranbrook Inst. Sci. Bull. 19: 1-785. (11) Wooo, F. D. (1988) Mating of the prairie rattlesnake, Crota.lus confiuentus confiuentus Say. Copeia, 1988:84-87. The Cassia fasciculata Complex (Leguminosae) in Texas B. L. Turner The genus Cassia is represented in Texas by 15 well-marked species. One of these, C. fasciculata, is a highly vari-able taxon composed of several intergrading infraspecific taxa. The following treatment is the result of several sum-mers' field work combined with distributional data and morphological study of herbarium material. In the present paper it has been necessary to make two new varietal com-binations in C. fasciculata. Hence, in conformity with Article 17 of the International Code of Botanical N omen-clature ( 1952) 1, it seems desirable to give a somewhat detailed account of the distributional and morphological evi-1 ARTICLE 17. "No one may change a name (or combination of names) without serious motives, based either on more profound knowledge of facts or on the neces-sity of giving up a nomenclature that is contrary to the rules of this Code." 88 FIELD AND LABORATORY , [Vol. 23 dence which leads the author to treat the C. fasciculata complex as indicated. The author wishes to thank the curator, New York Botanical Garden, for the loan of the holotype of Chamae-crista f errisiae. ARTIFICAL KEY TO VARIETIES OF C. f asciculata IN TEXAS (numerous intermediate types excepted) 1. Stems stiffly erect, mostly unbranched below, the upper portion pubescent with spreading hairs 2-3 mm. long; face of leaflets glab-rate; plants of easternmost Texas in cleared pine and oak wood-land .................................................................................... 1. var. robusta 1. Stems stiffly erect to nearly prostrate, simple or diffusely branched but without spreading hairs 2-3 mm. long, the pubescence mostly shorter or appressed; widespread taxa. 2. Face of leaflets glabrate (intergrades with varieties 4 and 5 occur). 3. Petiolar gland 0.5 mm. wide or less; anthers purple; pinnae with mostly 6-10 leaflets; plants of central Texas and north-westward to New Mexico (intergrades with var. fasicu-lata) ...................................................................... 2. var. rostrata 3. Petiolar gland 0.5-1.5 mm. wide; anthers yellow, occasionally purple or mottled; pinnae mostly with (9)10-15 leaflets; plants of central Texas and eastward (intergrades com-pletely with varities ferrisiae and/or puberula) .......................................................... 3. var. fasciculata 2. Face of leaflets densely pubescent with in-curved hairs. 4. Stems stiffly erect, mostly unbranched in the lower portion; legumes 5-6 mm. wide; petiolar gland sessile or nearly so; plants of upper Texas Gulf Coast and inland ( intergrades completely with varieties fasciculata and/or f errisiae) .............................................................. 4. var. puberula 4. Stems branched from the base and widely spreading; le-gumes 3-4.5 (5) mm. wide; petiolar gland distinctly stalked; plants of lower Gulf Coast and inland (intergrades com-pletely with varieties fasciculata and/or puberula) ............................................................... 5. var. f errisiae 1. Cassia fasciculata var. robusta (Pollard) Macbride According to Pennel (1917) this taxon intergrades with var. f asciculata. In eastern Texas the varieties apparently grow together, and occasional intermediates are found from this area. The exclusive, long spreading stem pubescence, which characterizes var. robusta, is not found in other varieties of C. fasciculata in Texas. 2. Cassia fasciculata var. rostrata (W. & S.) Turner comb. nov. Chamaecrista rostrata Wooton and Standley, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 16:135. 1913. (Cassia fisheri Cory; not C. rostrata Voight.) The variety is characteristic of open, dry, sandy soils in central, northwestern Texas and adjacent New Mexico. The plants are smaller than var. fasciculata and more branched from the base (var. fasciculata will brench 1955] THE CASSIA FASCICrLATA COMPLEX IN TEXAS 89 at the base when the main stem is clipped or injured). A few specimens somewhat intermediate between the varie-ties, in petiolar gland size and degree of branching, have been seen from Travis, Palo Pinto, and Wichita counties. In addition, the specimens from Dimmit, Frio, and Mav-erick counties show a more pronounced venation of the leaflets than is typical for the variety. 3. Cassia fasciculata Michx. var. fasciculata Mainly central and eastern Texas in sandy soils. The taxon is highly variable, probably as a result of long-time introgression with related varieties. Characters used in the key will separate on an artificial basis most of the specimens referable to the variety. However, many obvi-ous intermediates as well as apparently less "contami-nated" types will key to C. f. puberula or C. f. ferrisiae, in which case the biologic situation must be taken into consideration when evaluating the taxa. Most intermedi-ate types will be found in the area of geographical overlap of their ranges (see Fig. 1). Herbarium sheets at the University of Texas have been annotated with the varie-tal epithet that seemed to fit the specimen best; additional comments were appended when it was thought necessary to indicate in which direction variability was tending. Pennell (1917) apparently treated some of these inter-mediate types from Texas as Chamaecrista 11iississippien-sis (Pollard) Pollard. However, this latter taxon, if recog-nized as a variety of C. fasciculata, appears to be re-stricted to the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and western Florida. As interpreted by the present author, pubescent forms of the Texas species of C. fasciculata are the result of introgression or gene flow from the fairly well marked geographical variants of C. f. puberula and C. f. ferrisiae. Each of these latter varieties in its typical form differ from C. mississippiensis in hav-ing purple anthers in combination with other characters which mark it distinct. 4. Cassia fasciculata var. puberula (Greene) Macbride Mainly a variety of the upper Gulf Coastal prairies in Texas, but extending southward and westward from the Galveston-Houston-Beaumont area into the sandy oak-hickory and/or pine woodlands where it intergrades with 90 FIELD AND LABORATORY [Vol. 23 varieties fasciculata and f errisiae. In the dune sand on Galveston Island, plants with the habit of C. f. f errisiae occur ; otherwise the morphological characters are some-what intermediate between those of C. f. puberula and C. f. ferrisiae. On herbarium sheets flowering or imma-ture specimens of variety puberula are difficult or impos-sible to distinguish from certain pubescent-leaved intro-gressant individuals of C. f. fasciculata, but in fruit and in the field the typical form of the variety is readily recognized. FIG. 1. Distributional dot-map of Cassi,a fasciculata varieties in Texas (based on collections in the University of Texas Herbarium). Legend for symbols as indicated in lower left. Lined area shows the general region of extensive intergradation between overlapping taxa. Further explanation in text. 5. Cassia fasciculata var. ferrisiae (Britton) comb. nov. Chamaecrista ferrisiae Britton, N. Amer. Fl. 23 :285. 1930. HOLOTYPE examined, New York Botanical Gar-den (forty miles north of Edinburg on road to Falfur-rias, Texas, Aug. 7, 1921, R. S. Ferris & Duncan 3202). Britton and Rose (1930) placed this species in the perennial section Deeringianae of the Genus Chamae-crista. Apparently, they thought the species closely re-lated to C. aristellata, a definite perennial, and failed to detect the annual nature of C. f. ferrisiae. C. aristellata "1955] THE CASSIA FASCICULATA COMPLEX IN TEXAS 91 occurs sympatrically with C. f. ferrisiae and does not show evidence of hybridization with this latter taxon. On the other hand, C. f. ferrisiae intergrades completely with C. f. fasciculata and undoubtedly, on both morphologic and geographic grounds, should be treated under the sec-tion Fasciculatae of Chamaecrista (sensu Britton and Rose) whether it is recognized as a species or yet another variety of C. fasciculata, as adopted in the present paper. SUMMARY Cassia fasciculata in Texas is treated as a highly variable species composed of five intergrading varieties. Interrelationships among these varieties are reviewed in terms of morphologic characteristics and geographical distribution. Typical forms can be identified by use of an artificial key which is included. Two new varietal combinations [C. f. ferrisiae (Britton) Turner and C. f. rostrata (W. & S.) Turner] are made. ·The Plant Research Institute of the University of Texas LITERATURE CITED BRITTON, N. L. & J. N. RosE. 1930. Caesalpiniaceae: Chamaecri,sta. N. Amer. l"l. 23: 270-299. INTERNATIONAL CODE OF BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE. 1952. Regnum Vegetabile 3:1-228. ( Edited by J. Lanjouw). PENNELL, F. W. 1917. The genus Chamaecrista Moench in the United States. Bui. Tor-rey Bot. Club 44: 339-362. 

The Cassia fasciculata Complex (Leguminosae) in Texas

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The Cassia fasciculata Complex (Leguminosae) in Texas

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