''Leucospora multifida'', known variously as Obi-Wan conobea, narrow-leaved paleseed, cliff conobea, cut-leaved conobea, or much-cleft conobea, is an annual herb in the

plantain family Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

, Plantaginaceae, and the only species in the North American genus ''Leucospora''.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus ''Leucospora'', from the Greek for "white-seeded", was named in 1834 by English botanist

Thomas Nuttall Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an England, English botany, botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle, North Yorkshire, S ...

. Its sole species (), now known as ''Leucospora multifida'', was first described in 1803 by French botanist André Michaux as ''

Capraria ''Capraria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Scrophulariaceae. It is sometimes placed in the families Gratiolaceae, Plantaginaceae, or Veronicaceae. The name is derived from the Latin word ''caprarius'', meaning "pertaining to goa ...

multifida''. The epithet ''multifida'' is Greek for "cleft many times", in reference to the shape of its leaves. It has since been placed in several different genera, including ''Leucospora'', '' Stemodia'', ''

Sutera Sutera is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caltanissetta in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about west of Caltanissetta. The area is dominated by a large monolithic rock termed "The Mountain of Sa ...

'', and '' Conobea'', the latter from which several of its vernacular names originate. While one of its names, Obi-Wan conobea, a reference to the

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

character

Obi-Wan Kenobi Obi-Wan Kenobi () is a fictional Character (arts), character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Within the Star Wars original trilogy, original trilogy, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master as a supporting character and is portrayed by English actor Alec Guinn ...

, is sometimes considered purely a joke snuck into the 1994 edition of the ''Plants of the Chicago Region'', it was a name in use by regional botanists at the time, "the kind of jocular lingo that arises among field botanists working in humid, hot summer sun and bedeviled by all manner of unpleasant flying and crawling things".

Description

Obi-wan conobea is a small plant, growing to around tall, with glandular-hairy foliage. Its deeply dissected leaves may be alternate, opposite, or whorled. The axillary flowers are borne on pedicels. Each pale, lavender flower is tubular, around with 5 lobes. It flowers in the mid-summer to fall.

Distribution and habitat

The core of its native range is the midwestern United States, including most of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, extending west to

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, south to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and east to

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, with scattered occurrences beyond, where it may be

adventive An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

. ''Leucospora multifida'' is a facultative wetland or

obligate {{wiktionary, obligate As an adjective, obligate means "by necessity" (antonym ''facultative'') and is used mainly in biology in phrases such as: * Obligate aerobe, an organism that cannot survive without oxygen * Obligate anaerobe, an organism that ...

wetland plant across its range. It grows on sandy, gravelly, and

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

y soils in ditches, swales, and receding shorelines of rivers and streams.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15934698, from2=Q15340826 Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae genera Flora of Northern America Monotypic Lamiales genera