• You are here:
• Full Key
• All other flowering non-woody plants
• Daisies, goldenrods, and other aster family plants
• Polymnia canadensis

Polymnia canadensis — white-flowered leaf-cup

Facts

White-flowered leaf-cup is rare in New England, with only a few populations present in Connecticut and Vermont. It is most frequently found on calcareous soils in dry to moist woodland slopes. The genus is named after the ancient Greek goddess Polymnia, daughter of Zeus and one of the nine Muses. She presided over lyric poetry and was believed to have invented the lyre.

Habitat

Cliffs, balds, or ledges, forests, woodlands

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bract color

  the bracts are not colored or tinged with with pink, red or purple

  Bract cycle number

  there is one main cycle of bracts

  Bract outer side hair type

  the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces, with hairs having glands (a swelling at the tip of the hair)

  Bract outer side hairs

  the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract shape

  • the main bracts are lanceolate (widest above the base, then taper narrowly towards the tip)
  • the main bracts are linear (long and very narrow)
  • the main bracts are ovate (egg-shaped)

  Bract spines

  NA

  Bract texture

  the bracts have a similar texture to a leaf

  Bract tip color

  the tips are the same color as the center of the bract

  Bract tip extension appearance

  NA

  Bract tip extension edge

  NA

  Bract tip orientation

  the bracts are pressed against the plant, or spreading out at the tips

  Bracts

  the bracts in separate cycles are similar or gradually changing from the outer to inner cycles

  Disk flower color

  yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower number

  • 11-20
  • 21-50

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has either only pollen- or only seed-producing parts

  Disk flower shape

  the disk flower is tube-shaped (cylindrical), or gradually widening like a funnel

  Disk width

  6–13 mm

  Flower head number

  • each flowering stem has four or more flower heads on it
  • each flowering stem has only one to three flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has papery scales on it

  Flower head position

  • each of the flower heads is separate on its own peduncle (stalk), not clustered in groups
  • some or all the flower heads are grouped in clusters of two or more

  Flower head profile

  • the disk is flat or nearly flat across the top
  • the disk is rounded across the top

  Flower head shape

  the flower head is hemispherical (like the bottom half of a sphere)

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Height of flower head base

  6–11 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  the inflorescence is flat-topped in profile

  Inflorescence stem

  hairs are present on the stem of the inflorescence

  Number of bracts at flower head base

  6–21

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary has five or more corners in cross-section

  Ovary hair type

  • the ovary has hairs on it, but the hairs have no glands
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary hairs

  • the ovary has hairs on it
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary lines or ribs

  there are three lines or ribs visible on the ovary

  Ovary profile

  in profile, the ovary is another shape

  Peduncle hairs

  the peduncles are hairy

  Peduncle orientation

  the flower heads are arching outwards or downwards

  Ray flower color

  • white
  • yellow

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  the ray flowers have carpels or stamens, but not both

  Ray flowers

  • 1-5
  • 6-10

  Ray length

  Up to 15 mm

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on the plant contain both carpels and stamens

  Scale tip

  the scales are obtuse (bluntly pointed) at the top

  Smaller bracts at base of bracts

  there is a cycle of much smaller bracts outside the cycle of larger and longer bracts

  Style branch number

  the style has one branch

  Style branches

  the style branch is narrow at the tip, or the style branches are narrow at the tips

  Width of flower head base

  4–15 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  NA

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  3–4 mm

  Seed hair tuft bases

  NA

  Seed hair tuft color

  NA

  Seed hair tuft details

  NA

  Seed hair tuft length

  0 mm

  Seed hair tuft tips

  NA

  Seed hairs uniform

  NA

  Seed tuft scale number

  0

  Seed tuft type

  there is no pappus on the ovary

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  NA

• Glands or sap

  Leaf blade glands

  the leaf blades have glandular (translucent) dots or scales

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  the plant is perennial, it shows evidence of previous year's leaves, stems or stem bases

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

  Underground organs

  the plant has a rhizome (a horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  • the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the underside of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  • alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem
  • opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  the leaf has a distinct petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf is cordate (heart-shaped) or sagittate (arrow-shaped)

  Leaf blade edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has lobes, or it has both teeth and lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade flatness

  the leaf is flat (planar) at the edges

  Leaf blade hairs

  • the leaf blade has hairs with glands at their tips
  • the leaf blade has simple hairs with no glands, and not tangled or wooly

  Leaf blade length

  40–400 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • NA
  • the leaf blade is cordate (heart-shaped with backward-facing rounded lobes), or sagittate (arrow-shaped with backward-facing pointed lobes)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

  Leaf blade surface colors

  there is no noticeable color variation on the upper surface of the leaf

  Leaf blade tip

  • the tip of the leaf blade is acuminate (tapers to a long, thin point)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)

  Leaf blade veins

  the leaf blade has one main vein running from the base towards the tip

  Leaf blade width

  20–250 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the leaves are nearly similar in size, prominence of teeth, and length of stalks throughout the stem

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk length

  30–120 mm

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaflet number

  0

  Specific leaf type

  the leaf has a row of two or more lobes on each side of the central axis

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • cliffs, balds, or ledges
  • forests
  • woodlands

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem cross-section

  the flowering stem is circular, or with lots of small angles

  Leaves on stem

  there is at least one full leaf above the base of the flowering stem

  Stem internode hair direction

  the hairs point mostly upwards to outwards

  Stem internode hair type

  at least some of the hairs on the stem have glands

  Stem internode hairs

  the stem has hairs between the nodes

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae