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soft bird's-beak

Tecopa bird's-beak, Tecopa salty bird's-beak

Stems

erect or spreading, 10–40 cm, puberulent or hispid, hairs glandular and eglandular.

erect to spreading, 5–60 cm, sparsely puberulent, hairs glandular and eglandular.

Leaf

blades narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 5–30 × 2–10 mm, margins entire or 7-lobed, lateral veins conspicuous.

blades linear to linear-lanceolate, 5–15 × 1–2 mm, margins entire.

Spikes

2–15 cm;

bracts sometimes purple distally, lanceolate to ovate, 15–25 mm, margins pinnately 3–7-lobed.

2–15 cm;

bracts often purple distally, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 10–15 mm, margins pinnately 3-lobed near middle.

Flowers

calyx 15–20 mm;

corolla greenish white, white, or pale yellow, 15–20 mm, lobes 5–7 mm, often marked with dark red (especially toward base);

stamens 2, each with 2 pollen sacs;

staminodes 2.

calyx 10–13 mm;

corolla pale lavender to pale lilac, 10–15 mm, lobes 4–5 mm, occasionally marked with red-brown or purple-red lines;

stamens 2, each with 2 pollen sacs;

staminodes 2.

Capsules

narrowly ovoid, 6–10 mm.

narrowly ellipsoid, 5–7 mm.

Seeds

20–30, dark brown, ovoid to reniform, 1–3 mm, without abaxial crest.

8–10, brown, ± reniform, 2–3 mm, without abaxial crest.

2n

= 28.

Chloropyron molle

Chloropyron tecopense

Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct.
Habitat Alkaline meadows and flats.
Elevation 100–900 m. (300–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

The coastal and inland subspecies intergrade.

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

Chloropyron tecopense has a delicate appearance because of their slender branches with relatively small, appressed leaves. The species is found in Inyo and eastern San Bernardino counties in California and in Esmeralda County in western Nevada.

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

Key
1. Branches from distal to base; seeds 2–3 mm; corolla tubes densely tomentose.
subsp. molle
1. Branches from near base; seeds 1–1.5 mm; corolla tubes sparsely tomentose.
subsp. hispidum
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 668. FNA vol. 17, p. 669.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Chloropyron Orobanchaceae > Chloropyron
Sibling taxa
C. maritimum, C. palmatum, C. tecopense
C. maritimum, C. molle, C. palmatum
Subordinate taxa
C. molle subsp. hispidum, C. molle subsp. molle
Synonyms Cordylanthus mollis Cordylanthus tecopensis
Name authority (A. Gray) A. Heller: Muhlenbergia 3: 134. (1907) (Munz & J. C. Roos) Tank & J. M. Egger: Syst. Bot. 34: 189. (2009)
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