Chorizanthe parryi var. fernandina
Chorizanthe subg. Amphietes
San Fernando spineflower, San Fernando Valley spineflower
sometimes disarticulating at each node.
blades linear to lanceolate, obovate, round, or spatulate.
bracts mostly 2, opposite, scalelike or if leaflike then similar to basal leaves only reduced, occasionally deciduous in early anthesis, with or without awns.
cylindric to narrowly turbinate, campanulate, or urceolate, occasionally ventricose basally, 3-,5-, or 6-toothed, with or without membranous or scarious margins;
teeth erect to spreading or divergent, connate at least 1/2 their length, typically shallow, mostly unequal, with alternating long and short awns, often with anterior one longest.
1(–2), white to pink or rose, maroon or purple, or yellow, thinly pubescent at least along midribs abaxially;
stamens 3–9;
filaments adnate at base of floral tube or faucially;
filaments sometimes connate into short tube.
brown, lenticular or globose-lenticular, or 3-gonous.
embryo straight or rarely curved.
awns straight.
Chorizanthe parryi var. fernandina
Chorizanthe subg. Amphietes
Of conservation concern.
Variety fernandina was thought to be extinct until two small populations were found on Laskey Mesa in Ventura County and on Grapevine Mesa in Los Angeles County. The first site consists of some 14 subpopulations in a sparsely vegetated, undisturbed area. The second site, found in 2000, has a single population. The species otherwise was last collected in Los Angeles County in 1929. A single collection (Geis 541, DS) was supposedly gathered near Santa Ana, Orange County, in 1902. San Fernando spineflower has been proposed for federal listing as an endangered species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 39 (31 in the flora).
Most species of subg. Amphietes are found in California. Of the others, one is known only from southernmost Peru to central Chile (Chorizanthe commissuralis J. Rémy), while the rest are known only from Baja California, Mexico. Those include C. inequalis S. Stokes, C. turbinata Wiggins, C. mutabilis Brandegee, C. rosulenta Reveal, C. pulchella Brandegee, C. flava Brandegee, and C. interposita Goodman. The latter is the only member of sect. Clastoscapa, the only section of subg. Amphietes not found in our flora.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
