Plagiobothrys tener var. tener

Common Name: BORAGE FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, or shrub, often bristly or sharp-hairy. Stem: prostrate-decumbent to erect. Leaf: basal and/or cauline, simple, generally alternate, sometimes opposite, especially at base. Inflorescence: cymes, arranged singly or in groups of 2--5, generally coiled in flower, generally elongating in fruit. Flower: bisexual, generally radial; sepals 5, free or fused at least at base; corolla 5-lobed, salverform, funnel-shaped, rotate, or bell-shaped, appendages (often called "fornices") 0 or 5 at top of tube, when present often differentially pigmented, alternate stamens; stamens epipetalous; ovary superior, 4-lobed, style 1, entire or minutely 2-lobed (2-branched). Fruit: nutlets 1--4, when > 1, all similar (often called "homomorphic") or 1 or 2 dissimilar in size and/or shape from the others (often called "heteromorphic"), free (fused), smooth to roughened, prickly or bristly or not.
Genera In Family: +- 90 genera, +- 1600--1700 species: mostly temperate, especially western North America, Mediterranean; some cultivated (Borago, Echium, Myosotis, Symphytum). Toxicity: Many genera may be TOXIC from pyrrolizidine alkaloids or accumulated nitrates. Note: Sometimes still treated in broader sense of TJM2 (e.g., APG IV 2016 Bot J Linn Soc 181:1--20), but recent evidence (Luebert et al. 2016) supports segregation, for our flora, of the families Ehretiaceae, Heliotropiaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, Lennoaceae, and Namaceae.
eFlora Treatment Author: Michael G. Simpson, C. Matt Guilliams, Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman & Ronald B. Kelley
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin, C. Matt Guilliams, Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman, David J. Keil, Ronald B. Kelley, Robert W. Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti & Michael G. Simpson

Common Name: POPCORNFLOWER
Habit: Annual (perennial herb), generally strigose to spreading-hairy; fibrous- to taprooted, staining red dye present or not. Stem: branched at base or above, < 5 dm. Leaf: cauline or basal and cauline, 0.5--10 cm, generally smaller tipward, linear to oblanceolate. Inflorescence: raceme- or spike-like cymes, coiled in bud, generally elongate in fruit; bracts 0--many. Flower: calyx lobes fused below middle, 2--10 mm in fruit; corolla rotate to funnel-shaped or cylindric, white or white with yellow area, tube generally +- yellow inside, limb 1--12 mm diam, appendages prominent to minute, white to yellow. Fruit: nutlets generally 4, +- ovate (triangular to +- lanceolate), rarely on narrow stalk or short peg, variously roughened, abaxially generally with central ridge, lateral ridges, cross-ribs, generally tubercled, occasionally prickly or bristly; adaxially keeled above attachment scar, scar on side generally near middle to base, sometimes on bottom or oblique (on angle between side and bottom), generally raised.
Etymology: (Greek: sideways pit, from position of nutlet attachment scar) Note: Nutlet characters in key generally best for 3 nutlets farthest from stem; yellow on corolla changes to white after pollination. Other taxa in TJM (2012) moved to Amsinckiopsis and Sonnea.
Unabridged Note: Fully mature nutlets needed for identification; in many species nutlet closest to stem often more firmly attached, larger, differently textured, and with completely different attachment scar than other 3; nutlet characters used in key focus on 3 more loosely attached nutlets. Intergradation common in some species groups; reticulate speciation in genus; sect. Allocarya often treated as separate genus in older works; many species need study. Corolla size can diminish markedly during flower period. Yellow corolla appendages and, if present, contrasting yellow corolla centers, change to white after successful pollination.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald B. Kelley & C. Matt Guilliams
Unabridged Reference: Horn 2000 Ph.D. Dissertation Univ Munich; Johnston 1932 Contr Arnold Arboretum 3:1--102; Guilliams 2015 Ph.D. Dissertation Univ CA Berkeley.

Common Name: SLENDER POPCORNFLOWER
Habit: Annual. Stem: 1--several, generally erect to occasionally prostrate, 1--3 dm, branched at base. Leaf: cauline few, lower 2--6 cm. Inflorescence: bracts 0 (or near base); pedicel elongating < 5 mm. Flower: +- fragrant; calyx 1--3 mm, base +- 4-ridged in fruit, lobes oblong to +- spoon-shaped, cupped; corolla limb 3--9 mm diam, appendages yellow. Fruit: nutlet 1.1--1.8 mm, lance-ovate, dull, tan to black, firmly attached; abaxial ridge, lateral ridges generally obscure, cross-ribs generally above middle, low to prominent, irregular, +- toothed, interspaces wide, tubercled or coarse-granular, often bristly; scar generally near base, occasionally +- oblique, narrow-ovate to triangular.

Unabridged Note: Fruit variable. See note for Plagiobothrys tener var. tener.