Menges' Fameflower

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).

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.

Ala., Ga., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va.

Flowering Apr-Oct.

Woods, glades, barrens, cliffs, outcrops, rocky banks, sandstone, granite, gneiss, rarely limestone; 100-1000m.

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

Talinum mengesii W. Wolf, Am. Midi. Nat. 6: 153. 1920
A glabrous, succulent, perennial herb, 2-4 dm. tall, with horizontal rootstock, the sterns tufted; leaf-blades terete, 2-5.5 cm. long, 1.5-3 mm. thick; inflorescence a cyme, bracted at the forks; peduncles slender, 1-2 dm. long; pedicels slender, clavate, 5-10 mm. long; sepals ovate, 3.5-4 mm. long, obtusish; petals obovate, 9-13 mm. long, 5-6 mm. broad, tnucronulate, rose-purple; stamens 40-100, commonly 50-S0; stigma capitate; capsule subglobose, 3-4 mm. in diameter, angled at the sutures; seeds black, 0.9-1 mm. wide, nearly smooth.
Type locality': Cliff-banks of Little River. Alabama. Distribution: Alabama and Tennessee.