Habit: Perennial herb or subshrub, deciduous, generally late summer, fall; hairs generally in stellate clumps, rarely glandular (except inflorescence), sparse to dense.
Stem: generally erect, +- broom-like.
Leaf: basal 0 [present]; cauline generally alternate, generally linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate, sessile to short-petioled, margins entire, generally rolled under, stipules 0.
Inflorescence: raceme- or panicle-like, glandular hairs on branches, pedicels generally 0 to sparse; cleistogamous flowers 0 [present].
Flower: sepals 5, outer 2 generally narrower; petals yellow; stamens 10--many; style < 2 mm, stigma +- hemispheric.
Fruit: generally +- ovoid; valves generally 3.
Species In Genus: 21 species: North America to South America.
Etymology: (Greek: yellow flower)
Note: Esp abundant after fire, resprouting from woody caudex. New World taxa transferred from polyphyletic
Helianthemum by Sorrie. Descriptions refer to opening flowers; cleistogamous flowers (0 in California), sometimes produced later, lack petals. Flowers of
Crocanthemum scoparium from Mt. Diablo reported to have 5 stamens, which instead seem to represent 5 united pairs.
Unabridged Note: Based on molecular and other data (as yet unpublished, by Jenny Arrington & Paul Manos) Helianthemum is polyphyletic; California taxa more closely related to Crocanthemum and Hudsonia than to Helianthemum; New World members treated in Crocanthemum by Sorrie, who is preparing treatment for FNANM.Jepson eFlora Author: Bruce A. Sorrie & Thomas J. Rosatti
Reference: Sorrie 2012 Phytologia 93:270--271
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Crocanthemum
Previous taxon: Cistus salviifoliusNext taxon: Crocanthemum aldersonii
