Chorizanthe clevelandii |
Chorizanthe pungens |
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Cleveland's spineflower |
Monterey spineflower |
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Habit | Plants spreading to decumbent, 0.2–0.8(–1) × 0.5–5(–7) dm, appressed-pubescent. | Plants prostrate to ascending or erect, 0.5–2(–2.5) × 0.5–10 dm, grayish-villous. | ||||
Leaves | basal; petiole 0.5–2 mm; blade oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5(–2) × 0.3–0.6(–0.8) cm, thinly pubescent. |
basal; petiole (0.5–)1–3(–4) cm; blade oblanceolate, (0.5–)1–5(–7) × (0.3–)0.4–0.7(–1) cm, villous. |
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Inflorescences | with involucres in small, open clusters 0.5–1.5 cm diam., greenish or grayish to reddish; bracts 2, sessile, usually leaflike, oblanceolate to elliptic, 0.5–1.5 cm × 1.5–5 mm, gradually reduced and becoming scalelike at distal nodes, linear, aciculate, acerose, 0.4–1 cm × 1–2(–3) mm, awns straight, 1–3 mm. |
rather dense with secondary branches suppressed, grayish; bracts 2, similar to leaf blades at proximal nodes only reduced, short-petiolate, becoming linear and aciculate at distal nodes, acerose, 0.5–7 cm × 2–7 mm, awns 0.5–1.2 mm. |
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Involucres | 3–10, grayish to reddish, urceolate, slightly ventricose basally, 3–3.5 mm, slightly corrugate, without scarious or membranous margins, densely pubescent; teeth widely spreading to divergent, unequal, 0.3–0.6 mm or 3–6 mm; awns uncinate, unequal, with longer anterior one 1.5–2.5 mm, others spreading, 0.3–0.6 mm. |
1, grayish, cylindric, often ventricose basally, 2–2.5(–3) mm, with distinct, white to pink or purple, scarious margins extending nearly full length of awn, corrugate, villous abaxially; teeth spreading, equal, 0.5–1.5 mm; awns uncinate with longer ones 2–3 mm and alternating with shorter (1–1.5 mm) ones. |
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Flowers | included or only slightly exserted; perianth bicolored with floral tube greenish white and tepals white, cylindric, 2.5–3 mm, sparsely pubescent; tepals connate 2/3 their length, dimorphic, linear-oblong, those of outer whorl spreading, 1.5 times longer than those of inner whorl, rounded, entire or emarginate to slightly 2-lobed apically, those of inner whorl erect, acute, entire to erose, slightly fimbriate or 2-lobed apically; stamens 3, included; filaments distinct, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous; anthers white, ovate, 0.3–0.4 mm. |
exserted; perianth bicolored with floral tube white and tepals white to rose, cylindric, 2–3.5 mm, pubescent abaxially; tepals connate less than 1/4 their length, monomorphic, obovate to oblong, acute to truncate and erose apically; stamens 9, slightly exserted; filaments distinct, 2–3 mm, glabrous; anthers cream to rose, ovate, 0.3–0.4 mm. |
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Achenes | brown, globose-lenticular, 2.5–3 mm. |
dark brown, globose-lenticular, 2–2.5 mm. |
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2n | = 42. |
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Chorizanthe clevelandii |
Chorizanthe pungens |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Sep. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, pine-oak woodlands | |||||
Elevation | 400-2000 m (1300-6600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA
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CA
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Discussion | Chorizanthe clevelandii is locally infrequent to common in scattered locations in the Coast Ranges from Mendocino and Lake counties south to Santa Barbara County, and across the Transverse and Tehachapi ranges of Ventura and Kern counties to the southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare County. It is the most widely distributed of the spineflowers endemic to California. The involucres stick to fur, clothing, and fingers, aiding dispersal of the achenes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 460. | FNA vol. 5, p. 453. | ||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Parry: Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Sci. 4: 62. (1884) | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 419, plate 19, fig. 2. (1836) | ||||
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