Sullivantia hapemanii

Sullivantia hapemanii
A plant with jagged round leaves resembling small saw blades with a thin stem supporting small white flowers.
Variety hapemanii in the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming
Vulnerable
Vulnerable (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Saxifragaceae
Genus: Sullivantia
Species:
S. hapemanii
Binomial name
Sullivantia hapemanii
(J.M.Coult. & Fisher) J.M.Coult.
Varieties[2]
  • S. h. var. hapemanii
  • S. h. var. purpusii

Sullivantia hapemanii is a plant in the saxifrage family with two varieties. The variety growing in Colorado is known as hanging garden coolwort and the variety that grows in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho is known as Wyoming sullivantia.

Description

Sullivantia hapemanii grows upright flowering stems that can be 5 to 60 centimeters (2–24 in) tall,[3] however variety purpusii does not exceed 40 cm (16 in).[4] It does not have stolons, plant stems that grow at the ground surface for asexual reproduction.[3]

Leaf, variety purpusii

Like many members of its genus, plants can have both leaves attached to the stems and basal leaves, those growing directly from the plant's base.[5] However, most of the leaves are basal with the few stem leaves much reduced in size.[6] Leaves are reniform to orbiculate, kidney shaped in outline to round, but with many pointed lobes,[7] five to thirteen in total.[3] Leaf edges can be smooth, toothed, or erose, and may have long bristles. Leaves measure 1–11 centimeters 1–11 centimeters (0.4–4.3 in) wide,[3] though variety purpussi do not get wider than 10 cm.[4]

Flower and buds, var. purpusii

The inflorescence has widely spaced side branches extending out from the main stem, each with multiple flowers. The flowers have five white petals, five stamens, and glandular sepals.[6] Each petal is just 2.5–3.1 millimeters long and 1–1.8 mm wide.[3]

Taxonomy

Sullivantia hapemanii was scientifically described and named by John Merle Coulter in December 1892.[8] However, he had published an article with Elmon McLean Fisher in November 1892 where it was named Heuchera hapemani.[9] For this reason many sources such as World Plants,[10] World Flora Online,[11] and the Flora of North America credit this earlier publication by listing it as Sullivantia hapemanii (J.M.Coult. & Fisher) J.M.Coult. to indicate the correction,[3] however the entry for the species on Plants of the World Online does not.[2] The species was named for H. Hapeman, a private plant collector from Nebraska,[12] who collected the first specimen in the Bighorn Mountains.[9] It is classified as part of the genus Sullivantia within the wider Saxifragaceae family. It has two accepted botanical varieties,[2] though in the past botanists such as Per Axel Rydberg considered it as one species without any significant difference between the varieties.[13]

Sullivantia hapemanii var. hapemanii

The autonymic variety is known by the common names Hapeman's coolwort,[14] Hapeman's sullivantia, or Wyoming sullivantia.[15] It grows in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.[14] It differs from the other variety by having an ovary that is about as long as it is wide and a seed capsule that is usually about twice as long as wide and no more than two and a half longer than the width.[3]

The variety grows in the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming and into the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in southern Montana. It is also found in the Wind River Canyon and on Casper Mountain further south in Wyoming.[6] The Idaho population is found on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.[16] It grows at elevations of 900–2,500 meters (3,000–8,200 ft).[17] Wyoming sullivantia was rated as vulnerable variety (T3) when it was reviewed in 2023.[18]

Sullivantia hapemanii var. purpusii

This variety is known as the hanging garden coolwort,[7] hanging-garden sullivantia,[19] and as Purpus' sullivantia.[20] It is endemic to Colorado and only grows in five western counties, Gunnison, Montrose, Eagle, Garfield, and Rio Blanco.[7] It is distinguished by having an ovary that is twice as long as it is wide and having seed capsules that are always more than two and a half times as long as they are wide.[3] It was given its first scientific description as a species named Boykinia purpusii in 1899 by Townshend Stith Brandegee. The botanist Douglas E. Soltis published the description of it as a variety of Sullivantia hapemanii in 1991.[21] It was named for Carl Albert Purpus who collected the first specimen in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.[22]

Hanging garden coolwort grows in hanging gardens, moist habitats on canyon walls or cliffs, and are often found near waterfalls. The water in these places is often quite hard, due to large amounts of dissolved calcium carbonate. It can be found at elevations of 1,800–3,200 meters (5,900–10,500 ft).[4] The taxa was rated as vulnerable variety (T3) when it was reviewed in 1998.[23]

Synonyms

Group of plants, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming

Sullivantia hapemanii has seven synonyms of its two varieties.[24]

Table of Synonyms
Name Year Rank Synonym of: Notes
Boykinia purpusii Brandegee 1899 species var. purpusii ≡ hom.
Heuchera hapemanii J.M.Coult. & Fisher 1892 species var. hapemanii = het.
Saxifraga halmicola (A.Nelson) Fedde 1906 species var. hapemanii = het.
Sullivantia halmicola A.Nelson 1905 species var. hapemanii = het.
Sullivantia oregana var. hapemanii (J.M.Coult. & Fisher) Rosend. 1905 variety var. hapemanii = het.
Sullivantia purpusii (Brandegee) Rosend. 1927 species var. purpusii ≡ hom.
Therofon purpusii (Brandegee) A.Heller 1900 species var. purpusii ≡ hom.
Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym

Range and habitat

Sullivantia hapemanii is native to four western states, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana,[25] but each variety has its own range and is widely separated from the other.[1] Both varieties favor rather alkaline growing environments, such as on limestone or in water sources high in calcium carbonate. They grow in areas that are constantly moist or wet near streams, waterfalls, and seeps.[26]

Conservation

Sullivantia hapemanii was reviewed by NatureServe in 1997 and the species as a whole was rated as vulnerable (G3) due to its limited distribution with a narrow ecological range. Though it is mostly found in inaccessible areas it is impacted by the diversion of water and changes in rain or snowfall.[1]

References

Citations

Sources

Books

  • Ackerfield, Jennifer (2022). Flora of Colorado (Second ed.). Fort Worth, Texas: Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-889878-89-8. OCLC 1350496037.
  • Jennings, William F. (1997). Bargen, Eleanor Von; Denham, Miriam L.; Steinkamp, Myrna; Coles, Janet; Richards, Velma A.; Martin, Susan S. (eds.). Rare Plants of Colorado (Second ed.). Helena, Montana ; Estes Park, Colorado: Falcon Press ; Rocky Mountain Nature Association in cooperation with the Colorado Native Plant Society. ISBN 978-1-56044-529-6. OCLC 36001408. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  • Rydberg, P. A. (1906). Flora of Colorado. Fort Collins, Colorado: Agricultural Experiment Station of the Colorado Agricultural College. OCLC 667969253. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  • Weber, William A. (1988). Colorado Flora: Western Slope (Second printing with corrections ed.). Boulder, Colorado: Colorado Associated University Press. ISBN 978-0-87081-171-5. OCLC 881688281. Retrieved 20 March 2026.

Journal articles

Reports

Web sources

  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Sullivantia hapemanii at Wikimedia Commons
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