Chorizanthe leptotheca |
Chorizanthe membranacea |
|
---|---|---|
Peninsular spineflower, Ramona spineflower |
pink spineflower |
|
Habit | Plants erect to spreading, 0.5–3(–3.5) × 0.5–3(–5) dm, thinly pubescent. | Plants 1–6(–10) × 0.5–3(–5) dm, woolly-floccose. |
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 and cauline; petiole 0.1–0.5(–0.8) cm; blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, (1–)1.5–5 × 0.1–0.3 cm, thinly to densely floccose adaxially, densely tomentose abaxially. |
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. |
strict, white to greenish, open; bracts usually 2, opposite, rarely in whorls of 3–5, short-petiolate, acerose, similar to proximal leaf blades only reduced, 0.3–3 cm × 1–3 mm, awns straight, 0.5–1 mm. |
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. |
usually congested in small terminal clusters of 1–3 at node of dichotomies, urceolate, ventricose basally, 3-angled, 6-ribbed, 3–4 mm, not corrugate, with conspicuous, white margins extending across sinuses, tomentose to floccose or glabrate with age, greenish to brownish; teeth 6; awns uncinate, 0.7–1.5 mm. |
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. |
1(–2), slightly exserted; perianth white to rose, subcylindric, (1.5–)2.5–3 mm, densely pubescent abaxially; tepals connate 2/3 their length, slightly dimorphic, entire and rounded apically, those of outer whorl obovate, those of inner whorl spatulate; stamens slightly exserted; filaments 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous; anthers pink to red, oval, 0.2–0.3 mm. |
Achenes | brown, lenticular, 3–4 mm. |
2.5–3 mm. |
2n | = 38. |
= 38, 40, (42), 80, 82, 84. |
Chorizanthe leptotheca |
Chorizanthe membranacea |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Apr–Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, grassland and chaparral communities, pine-oak woodlands | Sandy to gravelly or rocky flats and slopes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, oak-pine woodlands |
Elevation | (300-)600-1600(-1900) m ((1000-)2000-5200(-6200) ft) | 40-1400(-1600) m (100-4600(-5200) ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
|
CA; OR
|
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.) |
Chorizanthe membranacea has long been considered an isolated element among the spineflowers. The strict, upright habit, numerous basal and cauline leaves, and broad, continuous, membranous margins of the involucre all reflect that isolation. Pink spineflower is widespread and often locally common in the Coast Ranges of southwestern Oregon and California and on the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada southward to the Transverse Ranges and the Tehachapi Mountains of Ventura and Kern counties, California. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 463. | FNA vol. 5, p. 450. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Eriogonella |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Eriogonella membranacea | |
Name authority | Goodman: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 61. (1934) | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 419, plate 17, fig. 11. (1836) |
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