Lunaria

Linnaeus

Sp. Pl. 2: 653. 1753.

,

Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 294. 1754.

Common names: Honesty money-plant satin-flower moonwort
Etymology: Latin luna, moon, alluding to persistent, silvery, large fruit septum
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 7. Treatment on page 596. Mentioned on page 226, 232, 239.
 TaxonIllustrator 
FNA7 P74 Lepidium sordidum.jpegLepidium sordidum
Lepidium strictum
Lepidium thurberi
Lepidium tiehmii
Lepidium virginicum
Lepidium virginicum subsp. virginicum
Lunaria annua
Barbara Alongi
Barbara Alongi
Barbara Alongi
Barbara Alongi
Barbara Alongi
Barbara Alongi
Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey

Plants not scapose; pubescent, glabrate, or glabrous. Stems erect, unbranched or branched distally. Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate or sessile; basal (soon withered, opposite), rosulate, long-petiolate, blade margins coarsely dentate; cauline (opposite or alternate), petiolate or (distal) sessile, blade margins coarsely dentate. Racemes (corymbose, several-flowered, rarely proximalmost flowers bracteate), considerably elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels divaricate or ascending, slender. Flowers: sepals cucullate, (median pair) linear or (lateral pair) broadly oblongelliptic; petals obovate, (much longer than sepals), claw strongly differentiated from blade, (nearly as long as sepal, apex obtuse); stamens tetradynamous; filaments usually not dilated basally (or slender); anthers oblong or linear, (apex obtuse); nectar glands lateral, annular or semiannular. Fruits (often pendulous), long-stipitate [rarely subsessile], oblong to suborbicular [orbicular, lanceolate-elliptic], not torulose, strongly latiseptate; valves each not veined, glabrous; replum rounded; septum (persistent), complete, (broad, shiny); style slender; stigma capitate, 2-lobed (lobes opposite replum, connivent or not). Seeds strongly flattened, broadly winged [not winged], reniform [orbicular]; seed-coat not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons accumbent. x = 15.

Distribution

Introduced; Europe, also in s South America

Discussion

Species 3 (1 in the flora).

Two species of Lunaria are ornamentals cultivated worldwide; L. annua often escapes from cultivation.

Although R. C. Rollins (1993) listed Lunaria rediviva Linnaeus as “rarely found in long persisting populations outside of cultivation,” I have not seen any material that unequivocally proves that the species is naturalized in North America. It is easily distinguished from L. annua by being perennial with petiolate distalmost leaves and elliptic-lanceolate fruits acute at base and apex. By contrast, L. annua is biennial or, rarely, annual and has sessile distalmost leaves and suborbicular to broadly oblong fruits obtuse at base and apex.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

"elongated" is not a number."thick" is not a number.

... more about "Lunaria"
linear +  and oblong +
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz +
Linnaeus +
appendaged +  and unappendaged +
not auriculate +
dissected +, repand +, sinuate +, crenate +  and dentate +
much smaller +  and reduced +
urceolate +, campanulate +  and tubular +
branched +  and simple +
sessile +  and petiolate +
well-developed +
distinct +
differentiated +
Honesty +, money-plant +, satin-flower +  and moonwort +
emarginate +  and entire +
Europe +  and also in s South America +
straight +  and curved +
Latin luna, moon, alluding to persistent, silvery, large fruit septum +
not winged +  and unappendaged +
connate +  and distinct +
actinomorphic +
latiseptate +  and long-stipitate +
not torulose +, oblong +  and suborbicular +
latiseptate +  and unsegmented +
sessile +  and petiolate +
alternate +, not +  and rosulate +
cauline +  and basal +
connate +  and distinct +
decurrent +
pinnatifid +
semiannular +  and annular +
tenuinucellate +, crassinucellate +  and bitegmic +
campylotropous +  and anatropous +
white +, lavender +  and purple +
rudimentary +
obovate +
trinucleate +  and 3(-11)-colpate +
Sp. Pl. +  and Gen. Pl. ed. +
1753 +  and 1754 +
slender +
mucilaginous +
not +  and mucilaginous +
white +, black +, brown +  and yellow +
reniform +  and flattened +
persistent +  and caducous +
distinct +
oblongelliptic +, linear +  and cucullate +
reduced +
latiseptate +, schizocarpic +, samaroid +  and lomentaceous +
indehiscent +  and dehiscent +
angustiseptate +, flat +, angled +, terete +, torulose +, not +, segmented +  and nutletlike +
tetradynamous +
branched +  and unbranched +
procumbent +  and decumbent +
subsessile +, sessile +  and petiolate +
persistent +
distinct +
slender +
Cruciferae +
Lunaria +
Brassicaceae tribe Lunarieae +
scale-like +  and forked +
anastomosing +
annual +  and biennial +
perennial +, biennial +  and annual +
aquatics +  and terrestrial +
glabrous +, glabrate +  and pubescent +