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desert marigold

Habit Plants mostly 20–100 cm. Annuals, biennials, perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs, 3–160 cm.
Leaves

basal (rosette) leaves mostly 3–10 × 1–5 cm;

petioles 1–4 cm;

blades ovate, usually pedately to pinnately lobed (cauline leaves in vernal forms much reduced; autumnal forms often leafy throughout and cauline leaves not much reduced).

basal, basal and cauline, or cauline; alternate; petiolate or sessile;

blades mostly elliptic, filiform, lanceolate, linear, oblong, ovate, or spatulate, often 1–2-pinnately or -ternately lobed, ultimate margins entire or toothed, faces glabrous or hairy, usually gland-dotted.

Peduncles

10–30 cm (vernal forms, often shorter on autumnal forms).

Involucres

hemispheric (vernal forms), mostly 5–10 × 10–25 mm.

mostly campanulate, cylindric, hemispheric, obconic, or ± rotate.

Receptacles

mostly conic, convex, flat, globose, hemispheric, or ovoid, epaleate (smooth or slightly to deeply pitted, sometimes with setiform enations, sometimes gland-dotted; outer disc florets rarely subtended by paleae in Amblyolepis).

Ray florets

0, or 1–55 (in 1–3 series), pistillate and fertile, or styliferous and sterile, or neuter;

corollas mostly yellow to orange, sometimes wholly or partly purple, red-brown, or reddish.

Disc florets

(vernal forms) 100+;

corollas 4 mm, tubes 1 mm, lobes 0.25 mm;

style-branch apices truncate to slightly rounded.

5–250+, usually bisexual and fertile, rarely functionally staminate;

corollas yellow, orange, or wholly or partly purple, red-brown, or reddish, tubes much shorter than to about equaling slightly to abruptly and greatly dilated, funnelform to campanulate or urceolate throats, lobes 5, deltate to lance-deltate (equal or unequal, often attenuate, glabrous, papillate, or hairy, hairs sometimes moniliform);

anther thecae pale;

stigmatic papillae in 2 lines.

Phyllaries

mostly 21–34, floccose-tomentose.

persistent, 5–50+ in 2–3+ series, distinct or outer connate, mostly elliptic, lanceolate, linear, oblanceolate, oblong, or ovate, subequal or unequal (erect or reflexed in fruit, usually herbaceous to scarious, margins seldom scarious).

Calyculi

0.

Heads

borne singly.

mostly radiate or discoid (rarely radiant), usually borne singly, sometimes in glomerules or corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

4 mm.

usually obpyramidal, sometimes clavate, columnar, or obconic (lengths usually 1–2.5, rarely to 3.5 diams.), mostly densely and shaggily hairy, sometimes sparsely hairy or glabrate;

pappi usually persistent, of 2–12 scales, sometimes 0 or of 35–150 bristles (Psathyrotes).

Rays

(vernal forms) mostly 34–55;

laminae linear-oblanceolate, mostly 10–20 × 5 mm, apices moderately to deeply 3-toothed.

2n

= 32.

Baileya multiradiata

Asteraceae tribe Heliantheae subtribe Gaillardiinae

Phenology Flowering Mar–Nov (depending on rains).
Habitat Stony slopes, mesas, and sandy plains
Elevation 100–2000 m (300–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Mexico; South America; Mostly sw United States
Discussion

Baileya multiradiata is an attractive and bountiful wild flower over a large part of the desert Southwest. It has been touted as a promising plant for landscaping, and research on its nursery production has begun (D. J. Cotter et al. 1980, 1982).

Both Baileya multiradiata and B. pleniradiata produce an antineoplastic pseudoguaianolide, radiatin, which might prove useful in cancer therapy (J. J. Einck et al. 1978). In addition, the antibiotic sesquiterpene lactone, baileyolin, from B. multiradiata inhibits tumor formation (X. A. Dominguez et al. 1977).

Baileya multiradiata is reportedly toxic to livestock, especially to sheep and goats, where losses as high as 25% have been reported on overgrazed rangeland in Texas (D. W. Hill et al. 1979, 1980). Cattle and horses seem to be unaffected, or at least poisoning of these animals has gone unreported. The chemical agent responsible is believed to be hymenoxon, a sesquiterpene lactone originally found in the genus Hymenoxys, where it is also toxic.

The poorly known desert marigold moth, Schinia minima (Grote), appears to be endemic on Baileya multiradiata, using the heads of this species for its larval development (T. G. Myles and B. F. Binder 1990).

The autumnal blossoms of Baileya multiradiata, with smaller heads, fewer rays, and shorter peduncles, greatly resemble those of B. pleniradiata. This has caused much confusion in the distinction between these two species. The shape of the style apex is a useful character to distinguish between fall-blooming specimens.

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

Genera 12, species 123 (11 genera, 73 species in the flora).

The circumscription of Gaillardiinae adopted here is that of H. Robinson (1981). In studies of epaleate Heliantheae, B. G. Baldwin adopted a narrower circumscription of the subtribe (Baldwin and B. L. Wessa 2000; Baldwin et al. 2002). Gaillardiinae in sense of Baldwin includes Balduina, Gaillardia, and Helenium; dispositions by Baldwin of other genera of Gaillardiinae in the broad sense include: Plateilema in Plateileminae, Psathyrotes and Trichoptilium in Psathyrotinae, and Amblyolepis, Baileya, Hymenoxys, Psilostrophe, and Tetraneuris in Tetraneuriinae (all in Helenieae sensu Baldwin).

Psilostrophinae B. L. Turner & A. M. Powell is a superfluous name (circumscription included type of Riddelliinae O. Hoffmann).

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

Key
1. Pappi of 35–150 distinct or basally connate bristles in 1–4 series
Psathyrotes
1. Pappi 0 or of 2–12 scales
→ 2
2. Pappi of 5 ovate to flabellate, deeply and finely lacerate scales (each seemingly consti-tuted of 8–15+ connate bristles)
Trichoptilium
2. Pappi 0 or of 2–12 ovate or spatulate to lanceolate, entire, erose, or coarsely lacerate, often attenuate or uniaristate scales
→ 3
3. Receptacles deeply pitted (each cypsela nested within a 5–6-sided cell)
Balduina
3. Receptacles smooth or ± pitted (sometimes with scattered subulate to setiform enations, cypselae not nested within cells; outer disc florets rarely subtended by paleae in Amblyolepis).
→ 4
4. Phyllaries 17–21 in 2 series (inner hyaline, scalelike; herbage notably sweet scented)
Amblyolepis
4. Phyllaries 5–50 in 2–3 series (inner herbaceous to scarious or scarious-margined; herbage not notably sweet-scented)
→ 5
5. Phyllaries usually strongly reflexed in fruit; receptacles mostly globose (sometimes with setiform enations); disc corollas often brown-purple to red-brown or tipped with brown-purple to red-brown (tubes much shorter than abruptly much-dilated, urceolate to campanulate throats, lobes often shaggily hairy, hairs ± moniliform)
→ 6
5. Phyllaries mostly spreading to erect in fruit; receptacles flat, conic, domed, hemispheric, or ovoid (smooth or pitted, without setiform enations); disc corollas usually uniformly yellow to cream or sometimes purplish to reddish (tubes much shorter than to about equaling slightly dilated, funnelform to cylindric throats, lobes not shaggily hairy with moniliform hairs)
→ 7
6. Stems not winged (receptacles usually with setiform enations; style-branch apices± attenuate)
Gaillardia
6. Stems often winged (by decurrent leaf bases; receptacles rarely with setiform enations; style-branch apices penicillate or truncate)
Helenium
7. Ray florets usually 3–16 (corollas withering, falling early or tardily)
→ 8
7. Ray florets usually 1–55 (corollas marcescent)
→ 9
8. Leaf blades sometimes pinnately lobed (lobes mostly filiform, linear, oroblong); phyllaries: outer connate or distinct, inner distinct
Hymenoxys
8. Leaf blades pinnately lobed (lobes mostly deltate to obovate); phyllaries: all basally connate
Plateilema
9. Pappi 0
Baileya
9. Pappi of 4–8 scales
→ 10
10. Plants mostly scapiform (non-scapiform annuals in T. linearifolia); heads mostly borne singly; involucres hemispheric to rotate; rays 0 or 7–27; disc florets 20–250+
Tetraneuris
10. Plants not scapiform; heads usually in close corymbiform or glomerulate clusters; involucres mostly campanulate, cylindric, or obconic; rays 1–8; disc florets 5–25+
Psilostrophe
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 446. FNA vol. 21, p. 415.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Gaillardiinae > Baileya Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae
Sibling taxa
B. pauciradiata, B. pleniradiata
Subordinate taxa
Amblyolepis, Baileya, Balduina, Gaillardia, Helenium, Hymenoxys, Plateilema, Psathyrotes, Psilostrophe, Tetraneuris, Trichoptilium
Synonyms B. australis, B. multiradiata var. nudicaulis, B. pleniradiata var. multiradiata, B. thurberi
Name authority Harvey & A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 106. (1849) Lessing: Linnaea 6: 516. (1831)
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