COMMENTSONTHEREDISCOVERYANDDISTRIBUTION OFCUNILAORIGANOIDES(LAMIACEAE)INTEXAS JasonR.Singhurst WalterC.Holmes WildlifeDiversityProgram DepartmentofBiology TexasParksandWildlifeDepartment BaylorUniversity 3000SoutfiIH-35,Suite1GO Waco,Texas76798-7388U.S.A. Austin,Texas78704U.S.A. ABSTRACT CunilaorigarwideshasbeenrediscoveredmTexasbasedonrecentherbariumandlieldstudies. RFSUMEN CunilaoriganoideshasideredescubiertaenTexasrnedianteestudiosrecicntesdehcrbarioycampo. HerbariumandfieldstudiesontheTexasflorahaveyieldedthefollowingrecords pertainingtotheoccurrenceanddistributionofCunilaoriganoideswithmthe state. Cunilaoriganoides(L.)Britt.(Lamiaceae)-Small(1933),CoryandParks (1937),CorrellandJohnston(1970),Hatchetal.(1990),andJonesetal.(1997) attributedthisspeciestoTexas.CorrellandJohnston(1970)citedthedistribu- tionasnorthcentralTexas,whileHatchetal.(1990)gavethedistributionas thePostOakSavannah,BlacklandPrairies,andCrossTimbersandPrairiesveg- etationalareas.ThelattermentioneddistributionwascitedbyDiggsetal.(1999) whoincludedCunilaintheFloraofNorthCentralTexas.Gould(1962,1969) andTurneretal.(2003)didnotincludethespeciesintheirrespectiveworks. TheexclusionfromthelatterworkseemstohaveeffectivelyremovedCunila frombeingknownasapartofthestate'sflora.Mostlikely,theambiguityinthe literatureisaconsequenceofnocitedvoucherspecimen.Recently,wehave uncoveredthetwospecimenscitedbelow,thusareabletoresolvethematter Specimensexamined:KaufmanCo.:vicinityofTerrell,6Sep1904,Tylers.n.(BAYLU(photo),US). LamarCo.:1.4miEofjetofSt.Rt.906andHwy27fatMidcityonSt.Rt.906,slopeforestbelowPat MayseLakeDam,18Oct2002,Singhurst&HarrisIBH(BAYLU). ItmaybeassumedthatSmall(1933)hadreferencetoaspecimen,thusitsinclu- sioninhismanual,butunderthegenusMappiaHouse.TheKaufmanCounty specimenwasannotatedbyDonovan5.Correllin1967,henceitsinclusionin CorrellandJohnston(1970).However,neithertheSmall(1933)norCorrelland Johnston(1970)reportsgivepreciselocationdataorindicatethesourceoftheir information.TheotherHteraturecitationsconcerningtheoccurrenceofthe speciesinTexasseemtohaveoriginatedfromthesetworeports.Withoutloca- SIDA21{2):n61-1163.2004 1162 BRIT.ORG/SIDA21(2) tiondataatleasttocounty,itisunderstandable,andcertainlycorrect,forTurner etal.(2003)tonotincludethespeciesintheAtlasoftheVascularPlantsofTexas. CunilaisaNewWorldgenusofabout15speciesnativefromeasternNorth AmericatoUruguay(Diggsetal.1999).Cunilaoriganoidesisanativetoeastern NorthAmericathatisdistributedfromNewYork,southtoGeorgia,westto KansasandTexas(USDA,NRCS2004).TheoccurrenceofCoriganoidesinTexas isverysignificant.IneasternTexas,calcareousdisjuncts,suchasC.origanoides, havebeenrecedingindistributionandareevidenceofcalciphilerelicsofan earliercoolerclimate(Krai1963).TherealsignificanceoftheoccurrenceofC. origanoidesisinthedisjunctnatureofthesites.Itisnotknownwhatthe1904 locationotC.origanoidesmKaufmanCountywaslikeandwhethersuchhabi- tatstillexiststhere.Therearestillafewremnanthardwoodsites,suchasCedar CreekIsland(thebigisland)inCedarCreekLake,inKaufmanCountythat containoldgrowthoakstandswitheasterntaxahkeCarollorhizawisteriana, ErythroniumaUndum,Phrymaleptostachyaand Verbesinahelianthoides.In LamarCounty,C.origanoidesoccursinrichhardwoodsonslopesalongaspring fedcreekwheretheWoodbineandEaglefordshaleformationsmerge.Thisis cretaceousgeology,whichisofratherrestrictedoccurrenceinnortheastTexas. Itdoes,however,supportotherdisjunctandperipheralspeciessuchastherare [inTexas]PrenanthesharhataandthemoreeasternHeucheraamericana.There- fore,thepresenceofC.origanoidesinnortheastTexasissignificantasthisna- tivespeciesISpersistinginremnantmaturehardwoodhabitat.Thishabitattype isdwindlingfromlandusepracticesandtheresultingfragmentation.Poten- tialhabitatlorC.origanoidesalsooccursmFannin,Hunt,Delta,Hopkins,Fran- klin,Titus,RedRiver,andBowiecounties.Thisinformationisvaluableasan indicatorofcalcareousslopehardwoodforeststhatmaycontainotherperiph- eralanddisjuncttaxaanditsdiscoveryaidstheunderstandingregionalplant communitiesandtheirfloristicmake-up. ACKNOWLPDGMENTS WewishtothankthecuratorsofGl1,NY,TEX,andUSlortheirsearchforand useol specimensthatmadethisstudypossible.Duringthestudy,thejunior authorvisitedUSandisgratefulfortheassistanceandkindnessesextended. WearegratefultoMargieKnowlesofUSwhoarrangedtohaveadigitalphoto oftheKaufmanCo.specimensenttotheauthors.WeareverygratefultoBarney Lipscomblorhiscommentsandsuggestionsinproducingthismanuscript. RHFERENCES CoRRELL,D.S.andM.C.Johnston.1970.ManualofthevascularplantsofTexas.TexasRe- searchFoundation,Renner. CoHY,V.LandH.B.Parks.1937.CatalogueofthefloraofTexas.TexasAgriculturalExperi- mentalStationBulletin550,CollegeStation. SINGHURSTANDHOLMES,REDISCOVERYCUNILAORIGANOIDESINTEXAS 1163 DiGGS,G.M.,B.L.Lipscomb,andRJ.O'Kennon.1999.Shinners&Mahler'sillustratedfloraof northcentralTexas.Sida,Bot.Misc.16,BotanicalResearchInstituteofTexas,FortWorth. — GouiD,F.W.1962.Texasplants achecklistandecologicalsumnnary.TexasAgricultural ExperimentalStationpublicationMP-585,CollegeStation. — Gould,F.W.1969.Texasplants achecklistandecologicalsummary.TexasAgricultural ExperimentalStationpublicationMP-585/revised,CollegeStation. 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