Iliamna remota
| Iliamna remota | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Genus: | Iliamna |
| Species: | I. remota |
| Binomial name | |
|
Iliamna remota Edward Lee Greene |
|
Iliamna remota, commonly known as the Kankakee mallow, is an endangered species of flowering plant in the mallow family. It is endemic to a single location, the 700-meter-long Langham Island in the US state of Illinois.
Iliamna remota is a herbaceous, perennial flowering plant growing from 1 to 2.5 meters tall. It has a greyish-green, densely hairy stem and alternate, palmately-lobed leaves. These have medium green, smooth upper surfaces and greyish-green pubescent undersides. The large flowers develop in the axils of the leaves, either singly or in groups of up to three, ranging in color from white to lavender. Anywhere from two to eight stems may grow from a single root crown and the roots themselves are generally shallow in depth while growing lengthy, dense, and fibrous tangles. Growth usually begins in the month of March, with flowering happening anywhere in July or August and eventual seed dispersal in September. New colonies sometimes develop from rhizomes.
The official classification for the species continues to be debated due to several related species in the Iliamna genus that are endemic to surrounding habitats in Illinois and other states. These species include the related Iliamna rivularis and Iliamna corei. However, the original taxonomic classification for the species was conducted by Edward Lee Greene in 1906, where he marked the species as separate from Iliamna rivularis due to "morphological differences of the calyx-lobes and carpels". Similar morphological distinction was made by botanist Earl Edward Sherff in his review of the species in 1949. A 2000 study by Tracey Bodo Slotta confirmed this distinction by looking at the genetic sequencing in the "internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal RNA subunits", confirming that I. remota was distinct from other Iliamna species.
...
Wikipedia