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Vascular Plants of California
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Larrea
CREOSOTE BUSH

Higher Taxonomy
Family: ZygophyllaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key

Common Name: CALTROP FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, shrub, often armed; caudex present or not. Stem: branched; nodes often angled, swollen. Leaf: 1-compound, opposite, petioled; stipules persistent or not; leaflets entire. Inflorescence: flowers 1--2 in axils. Flower: bisexual; sepals 5, free, persistent or not; petals 5, free, generally spreading, twisted (corolla propeller-like) or not; stamens 10, appendaged on inside base or not; ovary superior, chambers (and lobes) 5--10, each with 1--several ovules, placentas axile. Fruit: capsule or splitting into 5--10 nutlets (= mericarps).
Genera In Family: 27 genera, +- 250 species: widespread especially in warm, dry regions; some cultivated (Guaiacum, lignum vitae; Tribulus, caltrop).
eFlora Treatment Author: Duncan M. Porter
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Larrea
Habit: Shrub, unarmed. Stem: branched, erect to prostrate, < 4 m, +- red becoming gray; nodes swollen, darker; hairs 0 or appressed. Leaf: stipules persistent; leaflets 2, fused at base. Inflorescence: flowers 1 in axils. Flower: sepals unequal, overlapping, deciduous; petals clawed, twisted, yellow, deciduous; stamen appendages bract-like, coarsely toothed. Fruit: 5-lobed, spheric, short-stalked, hairy, splitting into 5 hairy, 1-seeded nutlets.
Species In Genus: 5 species: warm, dry America. Etymology: (Juan Antonio Pérez Hernández de Larrea, Bishop of Valladolid, Spain, 1730--1803)
Jepson eFlora Author: Duncan M. Porter
Reference: [Lia et al. 2001 Molec Phylogen Evol 21:309--320]
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

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Next taxon: Larrea tridentata

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Citation for this treatment: Duncan M. Porter 2012, Larrea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=9716, accessed on April 25, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 25, 2024.