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Vascular Plants of California
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Brandegea bigelovii


Higher Taxonomy
Family: CucurbitaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: GOURD FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb; hairs often hard from calcium deposits; generally monoecious. Stem: trailing or climbing, 1--many; tendril generally 1 per node, often branched. Leaf: generally simple, alternate, generally palmate-lobed and -veined, petioled; stipules 0. Inflorescence: at nodes; staminate flowers in racemes, panicles, small clusters, (or 1); pistillate flowers generally 1. Flower: unisexual [bisexual], radial; hypanthium > ovary; calyx generally 5-lobed (or +- 0); corolla rotate to cup- or bell-shaped, generally 5-lobed; stamens 3--5 (or +- 1--3 from fusion), anthers twisted together, often > filaments; ovary +- inferior, chambers 3--5, placentas parietal, styles 1--3, stigmas generally lobed, large. Fruit: berry, drying or not, or capsule, irregularly dehiscent, often gourd- or melon-like. Seed: 1--many.
Genera In Family: 100 genera, 700 species: especially tropics; some cultivated (Citrullus, watermelon; Cucumis, cucumber; Cucurbita, gourd, pumpkin, squash; Luffa, loofah; Sechium, chayote). Note: Several cultivated species included Bryonia dioica reported as waifs in California (Howell 1958 Wasmann J Biol 16:1--157), but none recently.
eFlora Treatment Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Genus: BrandegeaView Description 


Common Name: DESERT STAR-VINE

Etymology: (T.S. Brandegee, California botanist, engineer, 1843--1925)
Brandegea bigelovii (S. Watson) Cogn.
NATIVE
Habit: Perennial herb, taprooted. Stem: +- glabrous; tendril unbranched. Leaf: generally round to cordate or +- square, generally deeply lobed, adaxially with white glands, terminal lobe generally longest. Inflorescence: staminate flowers few in axils, pistillate 1 per node, at same nodes as staminate. Flower: corolla 1.5--3 mm wide, rotate or shallowly cup-shaped, cream; stigma 1, hemispheric. Fruit: dry, indehiscent, asymmetric, +- prickly; body 5--6 mm, +- = beak. Seed: 1.
Ecology: Canyons, washes, flats, sandy slopes; Elevation: < 900 m. Bioregional Distribution: D (exc DMtns); Distribution Outside California: southwestern Arizona, northern Mexico. Flowering Time: Mar--May
Unabridged Synonyms: Elaterium bigelovii S. Watson
Jepson eFlora Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

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Jepson Video for Brandegea bigelovii

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Botanical illustration including Brandegea bigelovii

botanical illustration including Brandegea bigelovii

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Citation for this treatment: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising 2012, Brandegea bigelovii, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=16061, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Brandegea bigelovii
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©2013 Neal Kramer
Brandegea bigelovii
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©2005 James M. Andre
Brandegea bigelovii
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©2009 Keir Morse
Brandegea bigelovii
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©2004 James M. Andre
Brandegea bigelovii
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©2012 Neal Kramer

More photos of Brandegea bigelovii
in CalPhotos



Geographic subdivisions for Brandegea bigelovii:
D (exc DMtns)
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map of distribution 1
(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  Consortium of California Herbaria.
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).