Flora of North America species comparison

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Chorizanthe brevicornu var. spathulata

Chorizanthe subg. Amphietes
Photo is of parent taxon

brittle spineflower, broad leaf brittle spineflower, Great Basin brittle spineflower
Habit Plants 0.5–2(–3) × 0.5–2 dm. Plants prostrate to spreading or erect, mostly thinly pubescent.
Stems

sometimes disarticulating at each node.
Leaf

blades broadly oblanceolate to broadly spatulate, 1–2 × 0.5–1 cm, apex round.

blades linear to lanceolate, obovate, round, or spatulate.
Inflorescences

bracts mostly 2, opposite, scalelike or if leaflike then similar to basal leaves only reduced, occasionally deciduous in early anthesis, with or without awns.
Involucres

obscurely ribbed at maturity.

cylindric to narrowly turbinate, campanulate, or urceolate, occasionally ventricose basally, 3-,5-, or 6-toothed, with or without membranous or scarious margins;

teeth erect to spreading or divergent, connate at least 1/2 their length, typically shallow, mostly unequal, with alternating long and short awns, often with anterior one longest.
Flowers

1(–2), white to pink or rose, maroon or purple, or yellow, thinly pubescent at least along midribs abaxially;

stamens 3–9;

filaments adnate at base of floral tube or faucially;

filaments sometimes connate into short tube.
Achenes

brown, lenticular or globose-lenticular, or 3-gonous.
Seeds

embryo straight or rarely curved.
2n

= 38.

Chorizanthe brevicornu var. spathulata

Chorizanthe subg. Amphietes
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
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR
[BONAP county map]
w United States; nw Mexico; sw South America
Discussion

Variety spathulata is known only from the cold deserts of the Intermountain West.

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

Species 39 (31 in the flora).

Most species of subg. Amphietes are found in California. Of the others, one is known only from southernmost Peru to central Chile (Chorizanthe commissuralis J. Rémy), while the rest are known only from Baja California, Mexico. Those include C. inequalis S. Stokes, C. turbinata Wiggins, C. mutabilis Brandegee, C. rosulenta Reveal, C. pulchella Brandegee, C. flava Brandegee, and C. interposita Goodman. The latter is the only member of sect. Clastoscapa, the only section of subg. Amphietes not found in our flora.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 470. FNA vol. 5, p. 450.
Parent taxa Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Fragile > Chorizanthe brevicornu Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe
Sibling taxa
C. brevicornu var. brevicornu
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) Reveal & Hardham: Phytologia 66: 113. (1989)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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