Chorizanthe pungens |
Chorizanthe membranacea |
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Monterey spineflower |
pink spineflower |
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Habit | Plants prostrate to ascending or erect, 0.5–2(–2.5) × 0.5–10 dm, grayish-villous. | Plants 1–6(–10) × 0.5–3(–5) dm, woolly-floccose. | ||||
Leaves | basal; petiole (0.5–)1–3(–4) cm; blade oblanceolate, (0.5–)1–5(–7) × (0.3–)0.4–0.7(–1) cm, villous. |
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. |
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Inflorescences | rather dense with secondary branches suppressed, grayish; bracts 2, similar to leaf blades at proximal nodes only reduced, short-petiolate, becoming linear and aciculate at distal nodes, acerose, 0.5–7 cm × 2–7 mm, awns 0.5–1.2 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. |
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Involucres | 1, grayish, cylindric, often ventricose basally, 2–2.5(–3) mm, with distinct, white to pink or purple, scarious margins extending nearly full length of awn, corrugate, villous abaxially; teeth spreading, equal, 0.5–1.5 mm; awns uncinate with longer ones 2–3 mm and alternating with shorter (1–1.5 mm) ones. |
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. |
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Flowers | exserted; perianth bicolored with floral tube white and tepals white to rose, cylindric, 2–3.5 mm, pubescent abaxially; tepals connate less than 1/4 their length, monomorphic, obovate to oblong, acute to truncate and erose apically; stamens 9, slightly exserted; filaments distinct, 2–3 mm, glabrous; anthers cream to rose, ovate, 0.3–0.4 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. |
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Achenes | dark brown, globose-lenticular, 2–2.5 mm. |
2.5–3 mm. |
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2n | = 38, 40, (42), 80, 82, 84. |
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Chorizanthe pungens |
Chorizanthe membranacea |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly or rocky flats and slopes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, oak-pine woodlands | |||||
Elevation | 40-1400(-1600) m (100-4600(-5200) ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA
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CA; OR
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 453. | FNA vol. 5, p. 450. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
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Synonyms | Eriogonella membranacea | |||||
Name authority | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 419, plate 19, fig. 2. (1836) | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 419, plate 17, fig. 11. (1836) | ||||
Web links |