Habit: Plant generally 0.5--2 m; sap clear. Stem: axis erect; branches generally many, spreading to erect; twigs generally +- red, turning gray, generally hairy, glabrous in age; young lateral twigs short, sometimes becoming spine-like. Leaf: cauline, generally clustered at short, lateral branch tips; petiole < 2 mm; blade leathery, base obtuse to acute. Staminate Inflorescence: cyme, raceme, or panicle, occasionally clustered on short, lateral twigs, minute-bracted. Pistillate Inflorescence: flower 1. Staminate Flower: sepals 0.5--2 mm; filaments glabrous or hairy; nectary disk +- minute-lobed. Pistillate Flower: sepals 2--5 mm; nectary disk minute-lobed; ovary (2)3--5-chambered, style = chamber in number, free, +- flat, generally spreading. Fruit: +- spheric, generally lobed, glabrous or short-hairy, generally brown. Seed: smooth, shiny. Etymology: (Latin: 4 seeds, from 4-lobed ovary in Tetracoccus dioicus) eFlora Treatment Author: Grady L. Webster Reference: Dressler 1954 Rhodora 56:45--61
Tetracoccus dioicus Parry
NATIVE Stem: twigs sparsely fine-tomentose near axils, glabrous in age. Leaf: generally opposite or 3-whorled; blade 10--30 mm, linear to narrow-oblanceolate, entire or sparsely fine-toothed, margin sometimes inrolled, tip rounded to acute. Staminate Inflorescence: generally raceme; pedicel 3--10 mm. Pistillate Inflorescence: pedicel 6--15 mm. Staminate Flower: sepals 6--10, ovate to lanceolate; stamens 5--10, filaments 2.5--4 mm, base soft-hairy. Pistillate Flower: sepals 7--13, 3--5 mm, wide-lanceolate to ovate; ovary 4-lobed, fine-tomentose, chambers 4(5), styles 3--3.5 mm. Fruit: +- 6 mm, 7--9 mm wide, sparsely fine-tomentose. Ecology: Dry slopes, chaparral; Elevation: < 1000 m. Bioregional Distribution: s SCo (San Diego Co.), w PR; Distribution Outside California: Baja California. Flowering Time: Apr--May Jepson eFlora Author: Grady L. Webster Reference: Dressler 1954 Rhodora 56:45--61 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Listed on CNPS Rare Plant Inventory Previous taxon: Tetracoccus Next taxon: Tetracoccus hallii
Botanical illustration including Tetracoccus dioicus
Citation for this treatment: Grady L. Webster 2012, Tetracoccus dioicus, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=46211, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Tetracoccus dioicus:
s SCo (San Diego Co.), w PR
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
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