Annuals, not reproducing vegetatively by stolons. Fertile stems erect, 7–70 cm; sterile stems to 13.5 cm. Leaves of fertile stems: blade linear, flat, 5–35 × 1–5 mm, apex acute or subobtuse. Racemes 1–41-flowered, lax or dense, rachis glandular-hairy, hairs 0.1–0.7 mm; bracts linear to lanceolate, 4–9 × 0.5–2 mm. Pedicels erect, 4–9 mm in flower, 5–13 mm in fruit. Calyx lobes lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 3–4.5 × 1–2 mm in flower, 3.5–6 × 1–2.5 mm in fruit, apex acute or subacute. Corollas purple or red, with yellow or red palate, 22–29 mm; tube 2–3.5 mm wide, spurs straight or curved, 12–17 mm, longer than rest of corolla, abaxial lip sinus 1–2 mm, adaxial lip sinus 3–6 mm. Styles 2-fid; stigma with 2 discrete areas. Capsules oblong, 4–6 × 3–5.2 mm, glabrous or sparsely glandular-pubescent; loculi subequal to unequal. Seeds dark gray to black, reniform or trigonous-pyriform, 0.5–0.7 × 0.3–0.5 mm, with ± conspicuous transverse ridges; wing absent. 2n = 12 (Africa).

Phenology: Flowering Mar–Aug.
Habitat: Roadsides, grasslands, dry fields.
Elevation: 0–1200 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Introduced; Que., Sask., Ariz., Calif., Conn., Fla., Maine, Mass., N.H., N.Y., Va., n Africa (Morocco), also in n Europe, Australia

Discussion

Linaria maroccana has also been collected in British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington; the populations have not persisted.

The identity of the plants that have been called Linaria maroccana in North America is controversial. Typical specimens of L. maroccana have fruits strongly asymmetric, with the adaxial loculus continuing beyond the stylar base and curving over the abaxial loculus. The American plants are unusual in having fruits with unequal loculi, with the adaxial loculus usually not curving over the abaxial loculus. The specimens studied probably correspond to cultivated forms (sometimes sold under the name L. maroccana hort.) of hybrid origin between L. maroccana and species of sect. Versicolores [L. bipartita, L. gharbensis Battandier & Pitard, and L. incarnata (Ventenat) Sprengel]. A possible name for these plants would be L. versicolor (Jacquin) Chazelles (Antirrhinum versicolor Jacquin); this issue is, at present, somewhat confusing. The identity of this taxon is not well established, and this name is not currently used in any modern treatment of Linaria. See D. A. Sutton (1988) for more information about the name L. versicolor.

Linaria pinifolia (Poiret) Thellung, a perennial species endemic to northern Africa, has been reported (for example, http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/search?lang=en; B. G. Baldwin et al. 2012) from North America. All the examined specimens labeled as L. pinifolia appear to be assignable to L. maroccana.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.