Chorizanthe breweri |
Chorizanthe subg. Amphietes |
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Brewer's spineflower, San Luis obispo spineflower |
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Habit | Plants ascending to decumbent, (0.3–)0.5–1.5(–2) × 1–5(–7) dm, thinly pubescent. | Plants prostrate to spreading or erect, mostly thinly pubescent. |
Stems | sometimes disarticulating at each node. |
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Leaves | basal; petiole 1–3 cm; blade spatulate to ovate, 0.5–2 × 0.3–1.2(–1.5) cm, thinly pubescent to densely tomentose at least abaxially. |
blades linear to lanceolate, obovate, round, or spatulate. |
Inflorescences | mostly flat-topped, open to rather densely branched, greenish to reddish; bracts persistent, 2, usually leaflike at proximal nodes and similar to leaf blades, short-petiolate, oblong to ovate, 0.3–0.8 cm × 2–6 mm, becoming sessile, reduced and scalelike at distal nodes, linear, acicular, often acerose, 0.1–0.5 cm × 0.5–1 mm, awns straight, 0.5–1 mm. |
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 | in open clusters with 1 at node of dichotomies, reddish, cylindric, not ventricose, 2.5–3 mm, corrugate, without scarious or membranous margins, thinly pubescent with slender curly hairs; teeth spreading, unequal, 0.4–1.2 mm with 3 longer ones more erect than 3 shorter and less-prominent ones; awns uncinate, 0.3–0.6 mm. |
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 | exserted; perianth white to rose or red, usually with white lobes, cylindric, 3–3.5 mm, pubescent; tepals connate ca. 1/2 their length, monomorphic to slightly dimorphic, narrowly oblong to obovate, rounded apically, those of outer whorl usually slightly broader and longer than those of inner whorl; stamens 9, mostly included; filaments distinct, 2.5–3 mm, glabrous; anthers pink to red, oblong, 0.4–0.5 mm. |
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, 2.5–3 mm. |
brown, lenticular or globose-lenticular, or 3-gonous. |
Seeds | embryo straight or rarely curved. |
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2n | = 38. |
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Chorizanthe breweri |
Chorizanthe subg. Amphietes |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jul. | |
Habitat | Gravelly or rocky places, serpentine outcrops, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, pine-oak woodlands | |
Elevation | 60-800 m (200-2600 ft) | |
Distribution |
CA
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w United States; nw Mexico; sw South America |
Discussion | Of conservation concern. Chorizanthe breweri is found infrequently in the Coast Ranges of southwestern California. (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. 464. | FNA vol. 5, p. 450. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 270. (1877) | Reveal & Hardham: Phytologia 66: 113. (1989) |
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