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Wright's baccharis, Wright's baccharis or false willow

Habit Subshrubs or shrubs, 10–80 cm (much branched from woody caudices, aerial stems sometimes dying back).
Stems

erect and slender or short and branched, prominently striate-angled, glabrous, eglandular.

Leaves

(reduced) proximal often withered and absent at flowering;

sessile;

blades oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, 5–10(–25) × 1–3(–7) mm (thin), bases narrowed, margins entire or finely serrate (teeth aristate), faces eglandular, not resinous (distal reduced to linear or oblong scales).

Involucres

broadly campanulate to hemispheric; staminate 5–9 mm, pistillate 9–14 mm.

Pistillate florets

20–30;

corollas 3–5 mm.

Staminate florets

20–30;

corollas 4.5–6 mm.

Phyllaries

narrowly lanceolate, 2–6 mm (not keeled), medians green or brown, margins scarious, apices acute or acuminate (erose, abaxial faces glabrous, eglandular).

Heads

usually borne singly (terminal on slender branches).

Cypselae

3–5 mm, strongly 5–10-nerved, papillose-roughened, glandular;

pappi 15–20 mm (often brownish).

2n

= 18.

Baccharis wrightii

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat Dry sandy plains
Elevation 500–2000 m (1600–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; KS; NM; OK; TX; UT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Baccharis wrightii is recognized by its bushy, broomlike habit, stems woody only at bases, relatively small, non gland-dotted leaves, early flowering period, heads borne singly, conspicuous, brownish pistillate pappi, and relatively large, strongly nerved cypselae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 34.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Baccharis
Sibling taxa
B. angustifolia, B. bigelovii, B. brachyphylla, B. dioica, B. glomeruliflora, B. glutinosa, B. halimifolia, B. havardii, B. malibuensis, B. neglecta, B. pilularis, B. plummerae, B. pteronioides, B. salicifolia, B. salicina, B. sarothroides, B. sergiloides, B. texana, B. thesioides, B. vanessae
Name authority A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 3(5): 101. (1852)
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