Chorizanthe leptotheca |
Chorizanthe watsonii |
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Peninsular spineflower, Ramona spineflower |
five-tooth spineflower, Watson's spineflower |
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Habit | Plants erect to spreading, 0.5–3(–3.5) × 0.5–3(–5) dm, thinly pubescent. | Plants spreading to erect, 0.2–1(–1.5) × 0.2–1(–1.5) dm, densely canescent-strigose. |
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 or nearly so; petiole (0.5–)1–2.5(–3) cm; blade oblanceolate, (0.3–)0.5–1.5(–2) × 0.2–0.4(–0.5) cm, thinly floccose to sparsely tomentose. |
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. |
with involucres in small clusters 0.5–1 cm diam., greenish to reddish; bracts 2, with laminar ones oblanceolate, (0.5–)0.8–1.5(–2) cm × (1–)2–4 mm, those at distal nodes becoming sessile, reduced and scalelike, linear-lanceolate, acicular, awns slightly curved, 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. |
1, green, cylindric, 5-ribbed, 3–4.5 mm, finely corrugate, pubescent; teeth 5, erect, unequal, with leaflike, narrowly lanceolate, 2–6 mm anterior tooth, others linear, 1–2 mm; awn uncinate, 0.4–0.8(–1) 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, included to slightly exserted; perianth yellow, cylindric, 1.5–2.5 mm, thinly pubescent abaxially; tepals connate ca. 2/3 their length, monomorphic, oblong, acute, entire apically, mostly erect; stamens 3 or 9, slightly exserted; filaments distinct, 0.8–1 mm, glabrous; anthers yellow, ovate, 0.2–0.3 mm. |
Achenes | brown, lenticular, 3–4 mm. |
brown, lenticular, 2.5–3 mm. |
2n | = 38. |
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Chorizanthe leptotheca |
Chorizanthe watsonii |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, grassland and chaparral communities, pine-oak woodlands | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands |
Elevation | (300-)600-1600(-1900) m ((1000-)2000-5200(-6200) ft) | 300-2400 m (1000-7900 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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AZ; CA; ID; NV; OR; UT; WA
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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 watsonii is widely distributed in the cold desert of the Great Basin and in the northern part of the warmer Mojave Desert. Plants in the northern part of the range (especially on the Palouse Prairie of south-eastern Washington) usually have three stamens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 463. | FNA vol. 5, p. 468. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Acanthogonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Goodman: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 61. (1934) | Torrey & A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 199. (1870) |
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