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Canbya aurea

golden canbya, golden pygmypoppy, yellow pygmy-poppy

canbya, pygmy-poppy

Habit Plants 1-2 cm. Herbs, annual, semiacaulescent, very small, glabrous, from taproots; sap clear.
Stems

branching at and just above ground level, leafy, branches short.

Leaves

3-10 mm.

alternate, congested in tufts, sessile;

blade unlobed, linear-oblong, fleshy, margins entire.

Inflorescences

peduncle 1-6 cm.

axillary, 1-flowered, much exceeding leaves;

peduncle slender.

Flowers

sepals 2 mm;

petals deciduous, 6, bright yellow, broadly ovate, 3-4 mm;

stamens 6-15;

filaments longer than anthers.

sepals 3, distinct;

petals 5-7;

stamens 6-15;

pistil 3-4-carpellate;

ovary ovoid, 1-locular;

style absent;

stigmas 3(-4), linear, radiate-recurved, appressed or adherent to ovary.

Capsules

2-4 mm.

erect, ovoid to oblong-ovoid, 3(-4)-valved, dehiscing from apex.

Seeds

many, brown, oblong-obovoid to ellipsoid, slightly arcuate, 0.6-0.8 mm, glossy, aril absent.

x

= 8.

2n

= 16.

Canbya aurea

Canbya

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat Dry, sandy ground, usually with sagebrush
Elevation 900-1700 m (3000-5600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w United States
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

These diminutive (but handsome) desert endemics are among the smallest plants in the family. Little is known about their life histories, reproduction, ecological interactions, or evolutionary histories, and they merit more field and laboratory study.

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

Key
1. Petals white, marcescent; filaments shorter than anthers.
C. candida
1. Petals bright yellow, deciduous; filaments longer than anthers.
C. aurea
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3. Authors: Curtis Clark, Robert W. Kiger.
Parent taxa Papaveraceae > Canbya Papaveraceae
Sibling taxa
C. candida
Subordinate taxa
C. aurea, C. candida
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 21: 445. (1886) Parry ex A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 51, plate 1. (1876)
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