Burke: Psilocarphus brevissimus vs. Psilocarphus elatior

	Psilocarphus brevissimus	Psilocarphus elatior
	dwarf woolly-marbles	tall woollyheads
Habit	Small, woolly, monoecious annuals, usually prostrate and branching, the stems up to 10 cm. long.	Small, silky-woolly, monoecious annuals, varying from erect, branched plants to 15 cm. tall to plants with a single head only 1 cm. tall.
Leaves	Leaves opposite, mostly lance-oblong to lance-linear, 5-25 mm. long and 2-5 mm. wide, usually well-surpassing the heads.	Leaves opposite, liner-oblong, up to 3.5 cm. long and 6 mm. wide.
Flowers	: Pistillate flowers 8-80 in each head, the corolla filiform-tubular, each enclosed by a saccate, woolly bract about 3 mm. long attached to the receptacle; receptacle lobed, each lobe bearing a cluster of as few staminate flowers; involucre none, but the heads subtended by several foliage leaves; pappus none; style off-set.	Pistillate flowers usually 50-80 in each head, the corolla filiform-tubular, each enclosed by a saccate bract about 3 mm. long attached to the receptacle; heads usually strongly surpassed by their subtending leaves; receptacle lobed, each lobe bearing a cluster of a few staminate flowers; involucre none; pappus none; style apical.
Fruits	Achenes obliquely lanceolate, flattened, 1.0-1.9 mm. long.	Achenes narrowly oblong, swollen, 1.0-1.7 mm. long.

	Psilocarphus brevissimus	Psilocarphus elatior
Flowering time	May-July	May-August
Habitat	Dried beds of vernal pools.	Dried beds of vernal pools and other open, moist places.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Idaho and Montana. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. elatior, P. oregonus, P. tenellus	P. brevissimus, P. oregonus, P. tenellus
Subordinate taxa	P. brevissimus var. brevissimus
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Psilocarphus brevissimus

Psilocarphus elatior

dwarf woolly-marbles

tall woollyheads

Habit

Small, woolly, monoecious annuals, usually prostrate and branching, the stems up to 10 cm. long.

Small, silky-woolly, monoecious annuals, varying from erect, branched plants to 15 cm. tall to plants with a single head only 1 cm. tall.

Leaves

Leaves opposite, mostly lance-oblong to lance-linear, 5-25 mm. long and 2-5 mm. wide, usually well-surpassing the heads.

Leaves opposite, liner-oblong, up to 3.5 cm. long and 6 mm. wide.

Flowers

: Pistillate flowers 8-80 in each head, the corolla filiform-tubular, each enclosed by a saccate, woolly bract about 3 mm. long attached to the receptacle;

receptacle lobed, each lobe bearing a cluster of as few staminate flowers;

involucre none, but the heads subtended by several foliage leaves;

pappus none;

style off-set.

Pistillate flowers usually 50-80 in each head, the corolla filiform-tubular, each enclosed by a saccate bract about 3 mm. long attached to the receptacle;

heads usually strongly surpassed by their subtending leaves;

receptacle lobed, each lobe bearing a cluster of a few staminate flowers;

involucre none;

pappus none;

style apical.

Fruits

Achenes obliquely lanceolate, flattened, 1.0-1.9 mm. long.

Achenes narrowly oblong, swollen, 1.0-1.7 mm. long.