Chaenactis stevioides
Chaenactis glabriuscula
broad-flower chaenactis, desert or Esteve or broad-flower pincushion, desert pincushion, Esteve pincushion, Esteve's pincushion, Steve's dustymaiden
common yellow chaenactis, yellow pincushion
1–12 (sometimes decumbent);
branches proximal and/or distal.
mostly 1–5(–12; sometimes ± horizontal);
branches proximal and, often, 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 cauline, 1–10 cm;
largest blades linear or ± elliptic, plane to 3-dimensional, succulent or not, (0–)1–2-pinnately lobed;
primary lobes 1–7 pairs, remote to ± congested, ultimate lobes ± plane, involute, twisted, and/or terete.
1–5(–10) cm, usually stipitate-glandular distally and, often, ± arachnoid.
1–20(–30) cm, distally stipitate-glandular, ± villous, arachnoid-sericeous, lanuginose, and/or glabrescent.
± hemispheric to obconic (bases green, rounded in fruit).
± hemispheric to obconic or broadly cylindric.
corollas white to pinkish, cream, or pale yellow, 4.5–6.5 mm (inner);
peripheral corollas spreading, zygomorphic, enlarged.
corollas bright to dark yellow, 4–8 mm (inner);
peripheral corollas spreading, ± zygomorphic, enlarged.
longest 5.5–8(–10) mm;
outer stipitate-glandular and/or ± arachnoid in fruit, apices erect, blunt, ± rigid.
longest 4.5–10 mm;
outer stipitate-glandular, ± villous, arachnoid-sericeous, lanuginose, and/or glabrescent in fruit, apices erect, blunt, ± rigid.
(± radiant) mostly 3–20+ per stem.
(± radiant) mostly 1–20+ 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).
3–9 mm (± terete);
pappi of (1–)4 scales in 1 series, or of (5–)8 scales in 2, abruptly unequal series, longest scales (1–)2–8 mm.
= 10.
= 12.
Chaenactis stevioides
Chaenactis glabriuscula
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 5 (5 in the flora).
The diverse and intergrading forms here included in Chaenactis glabriuscula have been divided by P. Stockwell (1940) and subsequent workers into as many as four species and ten varieties. Chaenactis glabriuscula is known from the southern two-thirds of the Californian Floristic Province and adjacent desert edges. It has been reported in Massachusetts as a garden escape (variety unspecified); it is not expected to persist there outside cultivation.
Complete interfertility among the taxa recognized here as Chaenactis glabriuscula vars. glabriuscula, megacephala, and lanosa was demonstrated by P. Stockwell (1940). Intraspecific crosses involving C. glabriuscula var. orcuttiana were much less successful; C. glabriuscula var. heterocarpha was not tested. As noted by W. J. Hooker and G. A. W. Arnott ([1830–]1841) and D. W. Kyhos (1965), some forms of C. glabriuscula differ from C. stevioides or C. fremontii only in corolla color, which can be lost in older or poorly preserved specimens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Pappi of (5–)8 scales in 2, abruptly unequal series | var. heterocarpha |
1. Pappi of (1–)4(–5) scales in 1 series | → 2 |
2. Proximal indument whitish, ± densely lanuginose; leaves ± basal (persistent) | var. lanosa |
2. Proximal indument grayish, ± arachnoid, or glabrescent; leaves basal (withering) and cauline | → 3 |
3. Largest leaf blades succulent, mostly 2-pinnately lobed; stems ± horizontal | var. orcuttiana |
3. Largest leaf blades scarcely succulent, 1(–2)-pinnately lobed; stems ascending to erect | → 4 |
4. Longest phyllaries 7–9 × 2–3 mm, outer glabrescent in fruit; pappi: lengths of longest scales ± 0.9(–1) times corollas | var. megacephala |
4. Longest phyllaries 5–7 × 1–2 mm, outer (at least medially) ± arachnoid-sericeous and, often, ± stipitate-glandular in fruit; pappi: lengths of longest scales 0.4–0.7 times corollas | var. glabriuscula |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
