Seymeria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae, the broomrape family, which is placed in the order Lamiales. The genus was established by Frederick Pursh and first published in Flora Americae Septentrionalis in 1813. Members of Orobanchaceae include a wide range of parasitic and hemiparasitic plants, and Seymeria is considered hemiparasitic — capable of photosynthesis but also obtaining nutrients from the roots of host plants. The genus comprises approximately 20–27 accepted species, distributed from the southern United States southward through Mexico to the Bahamas. In the United States, species occur across the Southeast and into Texas, including states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas, as well as Arizona in the southwest. Seymeria species are annual or perennial herbs, typically with finely divided or pinnately lobed leaves and small yellow flowers. The most widely encountered North American species is Seymeria pectinata, commonly known as blacksenna or senna seymeria, found in open woodlands and roadsides across the southeastern United States.
Etymology
The genus name Seymeria honours Henry Seymer (1745–1800), an English amateur botanist. It was first formally described and published by Frederick Pursh in Flora Americae Septentrionalis (volume 2, page 736) in 1813.
Distribution
Seymeria is native to the southern United States — including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia — and extends south through Mexico (across its central, gulf, northeastern, northwestern, and southwestern regions) and into the Bahamas.
Taxonomy Notes
Seymeria Pursh (1813) belongs to the family Orobanchaceae, order Lamiales, class Magnoliopsida, phylum Tracheophyta, kingdom Plantae. Orobanchaceae is a family that encompasses both fully parasitic and hemiparasitic genera; Seymeria is typically treated as hemiparasitic. GBIF recognises approximately 27 descendant taxa under the backbone entry for this genus.
