Chorizanthe brevicornu var. spathulata |
Chorizanthe brevicornu |
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brittle spineflower, broad leaf brittle spineflower, Great Basin brittle spineflower |
brittle spine flower |
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Habit | Plants 0.5–2(–3) × 0.5–2 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 broadly oblanceolate to broadly spatulate, 1–2 × 0.5–1 cm, apex round. |
basal; petiole 0.5–2 cm; blade oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic or spatulate, (1–)1.5–3(–4) × 0.1–1 cm, pubescent. |
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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. |
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Involucres | obscurely 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. |
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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. |
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Achenes | dark brown, lenticular, 3–4 mm. |
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2n | = 38. |
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Chorizanthe brevicornu var. spathulata |
Chorizanthe brevicornu |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly places, mixed grassland, saltbush, blackbrush, and sagebrush communities, pinyon and/or juniper woodlands | |||||
Elevation | 700-2900(-3100) m (2300-9500(-10200) ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR |
AZ; CA; ID; NV; OR; nw Mexico
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Discussion | Variety spathulata is known only from the cold deserts of the Intermountain West. (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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 470. | FNA vol. 5, p. 469. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | C. spathulata, C. brevicornu subsp. spathulata | |||||
Name authority | (Small ex Rydberg) C. L. Hitchcock: in C. L. Hitchcock et al., Vasc. Pl. Pacif. N.W. 2: 103. (1964) | Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 177. (1859) | ||||
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