Chaenactis stevioides
Chaenactis carphoclinia
broad-flower chaenactis, desert or Esteve or broad-flower pincushion, desert pincushion, Esteve pincushion, Esteve's pincushion, Steve's dustymaiden
pebble pincushion, straw-bed pincushion
1–12 (sometimes decumbent);
branches proximal and/or distal.
basal (usually withering) and ± cauline, 1–8(–10) cm;
largest blades ± elliptic, ± 3-dimensional, usually not succulent, mostly 1–2-pinnately lobed;
primary lobes 4–8 pairs, remote or ± congested, ultimate lobes ± involute and/or twisted.
basal (often withering) and, usually, cauline, 1–6(–10) cm;
largest blades ± 3-dimensional, not to somewhat succulent;
primary lobes mostly 2–7(–10) pairs, ultimate lobes ± crowded to remote, antrorse, linear, terete.
1–5(–10) cm, usually stipitate-glandular distally and, often, ± arachnoid.
2–6 cm.
± hemispheric to obconic (bases green, rounded in fruit).
obconic to ± cylindric or hemispheric, mostly 5–10 mm diam.
paleae (0–)3–10+ (persistent, ± phyllary-like, apices visible among mature floret buds).
corollas white to pinkish, cream, or pale yellow, 4.5–6.5 mm (inner);
peripheral corollas spreading, zygomorphic, enlarged.
4–6 mm.
longest 5.5–8(–10) mm;
outer stipitate-glandular and/or ± arachnoid in fruit, apices erect, blunt, ± rigid.
longest 7–10 mm, ± granular-glandular and villous;
apices (all or inner) erect to incurved, usually reddish, acuminate, aristate, terete.
(± radiant) mostly 3–20+ per stem.
(3–)4–6.5 mm;
pappi of (1–)4(–5) scales, usually in 1 series, rarely with partial outer, abruptly unequal series, longest scales 1.5–6 mm, lengths mostly 0.3–0.9 times corollas (apices hidden among corollas at flowering).
± terete, 3–4.5 mm;
pappi usually of 4(–5) scales, longest 3–5 mm.
= 10.
Chaenactis stevioides
Chaenactis carphoclinia
Chaenactis stevioides is found throughout the southwestern deserts; it is among the most abundant spring wildflowers in the higher Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. It also extends seaward into west-central California. It has been reported in New York as a garden escape; it is not expected to persist there outside cultivation.
Chaenactis stevioides varies in more or less concentric zones. Plants from the core zone (centered on the Great Basin and Mojave Desert) typically have pappi and phyllaries relatively short and phyllaries predominantly stipitate-glandular (var. brachypappa). Surrounding this zone to the southwest, southeast, and northeast are plants with pappi and phyllaries relatively long and phyllaries evidently or predominantly lanuginose (var. stevioides). Scattered on the periphery in central Arizona, Baja California, and west-central and southwestern California (where hybrids may be involved; see sectional discussion) are mesophytic forms with relatively long and/or broad leaf divisions, corollas varying from white to pale yellow, and pappi and phyllaries like those of var. brachypappa (var. thornberi, C. gillespiei). An unnamed form with leaves arachnoid but otherwise like C. fremontii occurs around sand dunes in the Mojave Desert. Chaenactis furcata and C. latifolia are forms possibly influenced by C. fremontii genes, unusual substrates, or pathogens. Traits of all the above taxa are inconsistent within populations, and/or recurrent or recombinant elsewhere in the range of C. stevioides.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Though occasionally suspected (P. Stockwell 1940), there are no confirmed natural or artificial hybrids between Chaenactis carphoclinia and any other member of the genus. The presence of paleae on the receptacle of C. carphoclinia is unique in Chaenactis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves basal and cauline, longest 1–6(–7) cm; petioles scarcely dilated proximally, ± herbaceous | var. carphoclinia |
1. Leaves ± basal, longest 7–10 cm; petioles dilated proximally, ± indurate | var. peirsonii |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
