Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange |
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TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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Jepson Interchange (more information) |
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
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Annual to tree
Leaves basal or cauline, alternate to whorled, simple to compound
Inflorescence: 1° inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower, 1many, generally arrayed in cymes, generally subtended by ± calyx-like involucre; flowers 1many per head
Flowers bisexual, unisexual, or sterile, ± small, of several types; calyx 0 or modified into pappus of bristles, scales, or awns, which is generally persistent in fruit; corolla radial or bilateral (rarely 0), lobes generally (0)45; stamens 45, anthers generally fused into cylinder around style, often appendaged at tips, bases, or both, filaments generally free, generally attached to corolla near throat; pistil 1, ovary inferior, 1-chambered, 1-seeded, style 1, branches 2, generally hair-tufted at tip, stigmas 2, generally on inside of style branches
Fruit: achene, cylindric to ovoid, generally deciduous with pappus attached
Genera in family: ± 1300 genera, 21,000 species (largest family of dicots): worldwide. Largest family in CA. Also see tribal key to CA genera: Strother 1997 Madroño 44(1):128. See glossary p. 25 for illustrations of general family characteristics.
Species in genus: 1 sp. (perhaps another undescribed)
Etymology: (Greek: fishhook chaff)
Often placed in Stylocline , but more closely related to Hesperevax or Eur Cymbolaena.
Native |
Annual, ± gray, cobwebby to tomentose
Stems 1several from base, spreading to erect, < 15 cm, ± forked
Leaves simple, alternate, ± sessile, < 30 mm, linear-oblanceolate to ± elliptic, entire
Inflorescence: heads disciform, ± sessile in leafy-bracted groups of 25, < 9 mm; phyllaries 0 or 36, vestigial, ± equal, membranous; receptacle 12 X longer than wide, expanded at tip, chaffy; outer chaff scales phyllary-like, each enclosing a pistillate flower, falling with a fruit, woolly, strongly 3-veined, body hard, tip scarious-winged; innermost chaff scales each subtending a disk flower, 2.74.1 mm (> outer), open, concave, persistent, thinly woolly, in fruit rigid, enlarged, spreading, tip hooked strongly inward, forming a spine
Pistillate flowers 510 in 12 series; corollas tubular
Disk flowers staminate, 35, 11.5 mm, 46-lobed
Fruit 1.42 mm, 0.60.9 mm wide, obovoid, compressed front-to-back, smooth, dull, black-banded near base; pappus 0
Ecology: Bare or grassy, often serpentine slopes, road beds, vernally moist places
Elevation: < 1900 m.
Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province (except coast), Modoc Plateau, sw Mojave Desert
Distribution outside California: to Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, nw Baja California
Flowering time: AprMay
Synonyms: Stylocline f. (A. Gray) A. Gray including var. depressa Jeps