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brittle spineflower

brittle spine flower

Habit Plants 0.5–3(–5) × 0.5–3 dm. Plants spreading to erect, 0.5–3(–5) × 0.5–3 dm, thinly pubescent, often with appressed hairs, infrequently somewhat strigose or glabrate.
Leaves

blades oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 1.5–3(–4) × 0.1–0.3(–0.5) cm, apex acute.

basal;

petiole 0.5–2 cm;

blade oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic or spatulate, (1–)1.5–3(–4) × 0.1–1 cm, pubescent.

Inflorescences

green;

bracts 2, similar to proximal leaf blades only more reduced, 0.3–1(–1.5) cm × 1–2.5 mm, becoming sessile and scalelike at distal nodes, linear, acicular, awns 0.2–0.5 mm.

Involucres

distinctly and prominently ribbed at maturity.

1, green, 3–5 mm, not corrugate, thinly strigose;

teeth divergent, 0.4–1.2 mm;

awns uncinate, 0.2–0.5 mm.

Flowers

included;

perianth greenish white to white or pale yellowish white, cylindric, 2–4 mm;

tepals connate 3/4 their length, monomorphic, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, acute, entire apically;

stamens slightly exserted;

filaments distinct, 2–3.5 mm, glabrous;

anthers white to pale yellow, ovate, 0.3–0.4 mm.

Achenes

dark brown, lenticular, 3–4 mm.

2n

= 38, 40, 42, (46).

Chorizanthe brevicornu var. brevicornu

Chorizanthe brevicornu

Phenology Flowering Feb–Jul.
Habitat Sandy places, mixed grassland, saltbush, creosote bush, and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands
Elevation -60-3000 m (-200-9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; NV; OR; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety brevicornu is known only from the warm Mojave and Sonoran deserts.

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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Chorizanthe brevicornu has stems and branches that easily disarticulate at the nodes. Dried specimens often are reduced to a mere jumble without careful handling. The vegetative fragments will not regenerate new plants, but the involucres (each with a single flower bearing a single achene) easily disarticulate from the parent plant, and with the aid of the awns on the teeth of the involucre, may be readily distributed.

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

Key
1. Leaf blades oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 0.1-0.3(-0.5) cm wide; involucres prominently ribbed at maturity; Mojave and Sonoran deserts
var. brevicornu
1. Leaf blades broadly oblanceolate to broadly spatulate, 0.5-1 cm wide; involucres obscurely ribbed at maturity; Great Basin Desert and Snake River Plains
var. spathulata
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 470. FNA vol. 5, p. 469.
Parent taxa Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Fragile > Chorizanthe brevicornu Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Fragile
Sibling taxa
C. brevicornu var. spathulata
C. angustifolia, C. biloba, C. blakleyi, C. breweri, C. clevelandii, C. corrugata, C. cuspidata, C. diffusa, C. douglasii, C. fimbriata, C. howellii, C. leptotheca, C. membranacea, C. obovata, C. orcuttiana, C. palmeri, C. parryi, C. polygonoides, C. procumbens, C. pungens, C. rectispina, C. rigida, C. robusta, C. spinosa, C. staticoides, C. stellulata, C. uniaristata, C. valida, C. ventricosa, C. watsonii, C. wheeleri, C. xanti
Subordinate taxa
C. brevicornu var. brevicornu, C. brevicornu var. spathulata
Name authority unknown Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 177. (1859)
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