Taxonomy and distribution of Adenostegia 
ROXANA STINCHFIELD FERRIS 
(WITH PLATES 10-12) 
The genus Adenostegia was first described by Bentham* with 
the description of one species, A. rigida. Ten years later the same 
author published in De Candolle’s Prodromus{ four Nuttallian 
species, substituting Nuttall’s manuscript name, Cordylanthus. 
This change was made on the ground that the meaning of the word 
Cordylanthus (cordule, club; anthos, flower) was more character- 
istic of the new species than was Adenostegia (aden, gland; stege, 
covering). The proper generic name, according to present-day 
rules of nomenclature, was revived by Greene in 1891, and later 
accepted by Kuntze § and Wettstein. || 
The affinities of Adenostegia are with Castilleia and Orthocarpus, 
and in Wettstein’s generic arrangement of the Scrophulariaceae 
it is placed between them. The most noticeable likeness to 
Castilleia is shown in the section A nisocheila in the elongated upper 
lip of the corolla. A much more marked connection is found 
between the section Chloropyron and Orthocarpus, for here there 
are points of resemblance not only in the distinctly three-saccate 
flower but in the spike-like inflorescence as well. 
The sections Euadenostegia and Chloropyron of Adenostegia 
exhibit the conspicuous degree of variability that is characteristic 
of many of the Scrophulariaceae. In Euadenostegia there are, 
besides the fixed species, two plastic groups, rigida and pilosa, in 
which the range of intraspecific variation creates difficulties in 
defining the species. The species of the rigida group are char- 
acterized by their hispid or hirsute pubescence and their tri- 
* In Lindley, J. A natural system of botany. Ed. 2. 445. 1836. 
+ Prodr. Syst. Nat. 10: 507, 598. 1846. 
t Some neglected priorities in generic nomenclature. Pittonia 2: 180-181. 
§ Rev. Gen. Plant. 2: 456, 457- 1891. 
|| In Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 4: 98. 1891. 
39 
