Chorizanthe leptotheca |
Chorizanthe angustifolia |
|
---|---|---|
Peninsular spineflower, Ramona spineflower |
narrow-leaf spineflower |
|
Habit | Plants erect to spreading, 0.5–3(–3.5) × 0.5–3(–5) dm, thinly pubescent. | Plants decumbent or prostrate, 0.3–1 × 0.5–10(–13) dm, villous. |
Leaves | basal; petiole 1–3(–4) cm; blade oblong to oblong-ovate, 0.5–2(–3) × 0.3–0.5(–0.7) cm, thinly pubescent adaxially, usually densely tomentose adaxially. |
basal; petiole 1–4 cm; blade oblanceolate, (0.5–)1–4(–5) × (0.2–)0.3–0.6 cm, villous. |
Inflorescences | mostly flat-topped and openly branched, usually reddish; bracts soon deciduous, 2, occasionally leaflike at proximal nodes and similar to proximal leaf blades only more reduced, short-petiolate, ovate, 0.3–0.4 cm × 2–3 mm, otherwise sessile, linear and acicular, often acerose, 0.1–0.3 cm × 0.7–1 mm, awns straight, 0.5–1 mm. |
rather dense with secondary branches suppressed, grayish to reddish; bracts 2, similar to proximal leaf blades only reduced, short-petiolate, becoming linear and aciculate at distal nodes, acerose, 1–4 cm × 2–8(–10) mm, awns absent. |
Involucres | in congested clusters with 1 at node of dichotomies, reddish, cylindric, not ventricose, 3–4 mm, not corrugate, without scarious or membranous margins, thinly pubescent; teeth spreading, unequal, 0.7–1.5 mm with longer of 3 longest ones more erect than 3 other shorter and less-prominent ones, awns uncinate, 0.5–1 mm. |
1, reddish, cylindric, not ventricose, 1.5–2(–2.5) mm, without scarious margins or if so then pinkish, thin, and restricted to basal portion of teeth, not corrugate, villous abaxially; teeth spreading, equal, 0.5–1.5(–2) mm; awns uncinate with longer ones 1.5–2.5 mm and anterior one mostly 2–2.5 mm, these alternating with shorter 1–1.5 mm ones. |
Flowers | long-exserted; perianth rose to red, infrequently with white lobes, cylindric, 4.5–6 mm, pubescent; tepals connate ca. 1/2 their length, dimorphic or sometimes monomorphic, narrowly oblanceolate, apex rounded, those of outer whorl slightly broader and occasionally longer than those of inner whorl; stamens 9, mostly included; filaments distinct, 4–6 mm, glabrous; anthers pink to red, ovate to oblong, 0.5–0.6 mm. |
slightly exserted; perianth bicolored with floral tube white and tepals white to rose, campanulate, 2–3 mm, pubescent abaxially; tepals connate 1/3 their length, monomorphic, oblong, usually rounded and erose apically; stamens 3 or 6–9, slightly exserted; filaments distinct, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous; anthers cream to rose, ovate, 0.2–0.3 mm. |
Achenes | brown, lenticular, 3–4 mm. |
light brown, globose-lenticular, 2–2.5 mm. |
2n | = 38. |
= 38, 40, (42, 44, 46). |
Chorizanthe leptotheca |
Chorizanthe angustifolia |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Apr–Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, grassland and chaparral communities, pine-oak woodlands | Sandy places, coastal scrub communities, pine-oak woodlands |
Elevation | (300-)600-1600(-1900) m ((1000-)2000-5200(-6200) ft) | 10-500 m (0-1600 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
|
CA
|
Discussion | Chorizanthe leptotheca is found in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County southward along the eastern edge of the Santa Ana Mountains, and through the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains of Riverside County into the mountains of central San Diego County. The species is also found in north-central Baja California. Ramona spineflower is clearly related to Chorizanthe staticoides, but that species occurs to the west of the range of C. leptotheca and the two are not known to be sympatric. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Chorizanthe angustifolia is common along the immediate coast and mesas mainly in west-central California. Plants with slightly scarious, pink involucral margins have been distinguished as var. eastwoodiae, but as both this and the nonscarious var. angustifolia occur together, no distinction is made here. William Gambel obtained the only collection known from Los Angeles County in the 1840s; it has not been found there since. Narrow-leaf spineflower often grows with C. diffusa in intermingled populations and care must be taken to avoid mixed collections. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 463. | FNA vol. 5, p. 454. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. angustifolia var. eastwoodiae | |
Name authority | Goodman: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 61. (1934) | Nuttall: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 4: 17. (1848) |
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