The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Point Reyes bird's beak, salt marsh bird's beak, saltmarsh birdbeak

palmate salty bird's-beak, palmate-bract bird's-beak

Stems

erect, spreading, or decumbent, 10–40 cm, puberulent or villous, sometimes glabrescent, hairs glandular and eglandular.

erect or spreading, 10–30 cm, sparsely pilose or glabrescent, hairs glandular.

Leaf

blades narrowly lanceolate, 5–30 × 2–8 mm, margins entire.

blades narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 7–20 × 3–7 mm, margins entire or pinnately 5-lobed, lateral veins conspicuous.

Spikes

2–9 cm;

bracts often purple distally, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 15–30 mm, margins entire or distally 2-toothed.

5–15 cm;

bracts often red distally, narrowly ovate to ovate, 12–20 mm, margins pinnately 3–7-lobed.

Flowers

calyx 15–25 mm;

corolla white to pale yellow or pale pink, 15–25 mm, lobes 4–5 mm, often marked with red-brown or purple-red lines;

stamens 4, proximal with 2 pollen sacs, distal pair with 1 pollen sac and 1 infertile appendage;

staminodes 0.

calyx 12–15 mm;

corolla white to pale lavender, 12–20 mm, lobes 4–5 mm, often with pale lavender spots at base of abaxial lobe;

stamens 2, each with 2 pollen sacs;

staminodes 2.

Capsules

narrowly ovoid, 6–10 mm.

narrowly ovoid, 6–7 mm.

Seeds

10–40, dark brown, ovoid to reniform, 1–3 mm, without abaxial crest.

14–18, brown to dark brown, ± reniform, 2.5–3 mm, with abaxial crest.

2n

= 42.

Chloropyron maritimum

Chloropyron palmatum

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Alkaline flats.
Elevation 10–150 m. (0–500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR; UT; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).

There are intermediates between the subspecies (T. I. Chuang and L. R. Heckard 1973).

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

Chloropyron palmatum is threatened by agriculture and urbanization (T. I. Chuang and L. R. Heckard 1973) in Fresno, Madera, San Joaquin, and Yolo counties. Inflorescence bracts are not palmate but are more deeply incised than those of C. molle.

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

Key
1. Seeds 25–40, 1–1.5 mm; galeas yellow to yellow-green.
subsp. canescens
1. Seeds 10–20, 1.5–3 mm; galeas purple-red, brown-red, or pink.
→ 2
2. Stem branches: distal usually overtopping central spike; galeas purple-red or brown-red.
subsp. maritimum
2. Stem branches not overtopping central spike; galeas pink or purple-red.
subsp. palustre
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 666. FNA vol. 17, p. 669.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Chloropyron Orobanchaceae > Chloropyron
Sibling taxa
C. molle, C. palmatum, C. tecopense
C. maritimum, C. molle, C. tecopense
Subordinate taxa
C. maritimum subsp. canescens, C. maritimum subsp. maritimum, C. maritimum subsp. palustre
Synonyms Cordylanthus maritimus Adenostegia palmata, Cordylanthus carnulosus, C. palmatus, C. palmatus subsp. carnulosus
Name authority (Nuttall ex Bentham) A. Heller: Muhlenbergia 3: 133. (1907) (Ferris) Tank & J. M. Egger: Syst. Bot. 34: 189. (2009)
Web links