Chorizanthe obovata |
Chorizanthe stellulata |
|
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spoon-sepal spineflower |
starlet spineflower, starlite spineflower |
|
Habit | Plants erect to prostrate, (0.5–)1–3(–4) × 1–4(–5) dm, pubescent. | Plants erect, 0.5–2.5(–3) × 0.5–3 dm, hirsute. |
Leaves | basal; petiole 0.5–2(–3) cm; blade oblanceolate, 0.5–2.5 × 0.3–1 cm, thinly pubescent adaxially, soft-hirsute abaxially. |
basal; petiole 0.1–0.5 cm; blade narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, 0.5–2 × 0.8–2(–2.2) cm, hirsute. |
Inflorescences | with involucres in open clusters 2–4(–6) cm diam., greenish or reddish; bracts 2–3 at proximal node, usually leaflike, without whorl of sessile bracts about midstem, elliptic, 0.5–1.5 cm × 2–6(–8) mm, abruptly reduced above proximal node, becoming scalelike, linear, aciculate, acerose, 0.2–1 cm × 1–3 mm, awns straight, 1–2 mm. |
cymose, dichotomously branched throughout, white to greenish or reddish; bracts usually 2, similar to leaves at proximal nodes only reduced, typically with whorl of 3–5 ca. midstem, short-petiolate, becoming linear and aciculate at distal nodes, acerose, 0.5–2(–3) cm × 10–30(–40) mm, awns absent. |
Involucres | 3–10+, grayish, urceolate, slightly ventricose basally, 3–4 mm, slightly corrugate, without scarious or membranous margins, thinly to densely pubescent; teeth erect to spreading, unequal, 1–2 mm; awns straight or uncinate with longer anterior one straight, mostly 1 mm, others uncinate, 0.5–1 mm. |
congested in small bracteated terminal clusters of 2–4 at node of dichotomies, tannish, cylindric, slightly ventricose basally, 3–4 mm, with conspicuous, white, broad, membranous margins typically extending up tooth to awn, finely corrugated, hispid at least along ridges, otherwise sparsely pubescent; teeth spreading, equal, 1–1.5 mm, awns straight, 0.5–1 mm. |
Flowers | exserted; perianth bicolored with floral tube greenish white to white and tepals white to pink, cylindric, 4–4.5(–5) mm, sparsely pubescent; tepals connate 1/2 their length, dimorphic, obovate, those of outer whorl spreading, 2 times longer than those of inner whorl, rounded or slightly obcordate apically, those of inner whorl erect, narrower, fimbriate apically; stamens (6–)9, mostly included; filaments distinct, 4–4.5 mm, glabrous; anthers yellow to golden, oblong, 0.9–1.1 mm. |
exserted; perianth cream to creamy white or rose, cylindric, 4–4.5(–5) mm, slightly pubescent abaxially; tepals connate 2/3 their length, monomorphic, obovate, obcordate to 2-lobed apically, sometimes slightly irregular but not distinctly erose; stamens 9, slightly exserted; filaments distinct, 4–5 mm, glabrous; anthers pink to red, oblong, 0.5–0.6 mm. |
Achenes | brown, globose-lenticular, 3–3.5 mm. |
light brown, globose-lenticular, 3.5–4.5 mm. |
2n | = 38, 40, 42. |
= 38, 40, 44. |
Chorizanthe obovata |
Chorizanthe stellulata |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jul. | Flowering Apr–Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy or calcareous soils, mixed grassland, coastal scrub, or chaparral communities, pine-oak woodlands | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, oak-pine woodlands |
Elevation | 10-1300 m (0-4300 ft) | 30-900 m (100-3000 ft) |
Distribution |
CA
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CA
|
Discussion | Chorizanthe obovata is found in the Coast Ranges. The whitish flowers quickly distinguish it from C. palmeri and the other reddish-flowered members of this complex. Immature plants can be confused with C. staticoides; the floral features readily separate the two species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Chorizanthe stellulata can be locally common in the foothills bordering the Central Valley from Shasta County south to Stanislaus County on the western side, and to Tulare County on the eastern side. Post-flowering specimens of starlite spineflower and Douglas’s spineflower are sometimes difficult to distinguish. The margins of the involucre in the former are always white; those of C. douglasii are purple. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 459. | FNA vol. 5, p. 452. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Chorizanthe > subg. Amphietes > sect. Ptelosepala |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Goodman: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 70. (1934) | Bentham: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle., Prodr. 14: 26. (1856) |
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