Slender collomia (Collomia tenella) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 3

Species Information

Name and classification

Scientific name:

Collomia tenella A. Gray

Common name:

Slender Collomia

Family:

Polemoniaceae (Phlox family)

Major plant group:

Dicot flowering plant

Description

Slender Collomia, Collomia tenella A. GrayFootnote1 is a member of a genus of about 13 species found in North and South America (Hitchcock et al. 1959). Four species occur in British Columbia and Canada (Scoggan 1979; Pojar 1999; Douglas et al. 2002b). Collomia tenella was first recorded in Canada by Douglas et al. (1998a).

Collomia tenella is an ascending to spreading, freely branched, annual, tap-rooted herb up to 15 cm tall (Figure 1; Pojar 1999). The leaves are alternate, linear, entire, 1-5 cm long and 1.5 mm wide. Flowers are single or in pairs at the branch tips, in the leaf axils or at the forks of the branches. The pinkish to white corollas are five-lobed. The calyces, which bow out and often form purplish knobs at the sinuses, have 1-2 mm long, triangular teeth. Fruits are capsules with 1-seeded chambers; seeds become sticky when moistened.

Figure 1. Illustration of Collomia tenella (Line drawing in Douglas et al. 1999b, 2002b).

Figure 1.  Illustration of Collomia tenella (Line drawing in Douglas et al. 1999b, 2002b).

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