Glandularia wrightii

This is not the Verbena wrightii Gray of older North America manuals. Umber (1979) applied the name Glandularia wrightii (Gray) Umber only to populations of tetraploid plants in the mountains of western Texas and northern Mexico; plants in the balance of the traditional range he apparently considered various varieties of Glandularia bipinnatifida (Nutt.) Nutt. This narrow taxonomic view of the circumscription of the Gray name is followed by Henrickson and Johnston for A flora of the Chihuahuan Desert region (in preparation). A third taxonomic opinion is offered by Turner (1998), who included these tetraploid plants in Glandularia bipinnatifida var. ciliata (Benth.) B.L. Turner. This third view apparently coincides with the treatment in Kartesz (1999), where G. wrightii is given as a synonym of that variety.

Glandularia wrightii as circumscribed by Umber (1979) applies to tetraploid plants found only in open areas in the mountains of western Texas and northern Mexico; it is not to be confused with the Verbena wrightii of older manuals, which ranges throughout much of western North America. Even with Umber's narrower redefinition (which is not accepted for example by Kartesz, 1999), the species remains common enough to merit a rank of G4. It thus is not considered a species of conservation concern.

According to traditional concepts, the taxon is widespread in the western United States, ranging from Kansas and Oklahoma west to Colorado and south to Arizona, western Texas and northern Mexico (Correll and Johnston, 1970); in this interpretation (sensu lato), the taxon might be ranked G5 and the GRANGE would be D. However, Umber (1979) applied the name Glandularia wrightii only to populations of tetraploid plants in the mountains of western Texas and northern Mexico; plants in the balance of the traditional range he apparently considered various varieties of Glandularia bipinnatifida (Nutt.) Nutt. This narrow taxonomic view (sensu stricto) is followed by Henrickson and Johnston (A flora of the Chihuahuan Desert region, in preparation). In this interpretation, G. wrightii might be ranked G4 and the GRANGE would be C. A third opinion was recently offered by Turner (1998), who included these tetraploid plants in Glandularia bipinnatifida var. ciliata (Benth.) B.L. Turner, a taxon that would be ranked G5T5 and with a GRANGE of D. In Kartesz (1999), G. wrightii is also considered a synonym of that variety.

This estimate is based on the assumption that these tetraploid plants are, like other Glandularia species in this part of the world, rather weedy generalists. Henrickson and Johnston (A flora of the Chihuahuan Desert region, in preparation) considered Glandularia wrightii to be common within its range. Although no effort has been made to determine the number of occurrences, that number certainly exceeds 100.

Threats to most of the taxa in this group seem to be few. Most are avoided by browsing animals, and most are capable of reaching and colonizing disturbed habitats. It could easily be assumed that the tetraploid plants of Glandularia wrightii in the taxonomic sense or view (sensu stricto) of Umber share this weedy nature, but information is lacking.