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Vasey's rabbitbrush

Truckee green rabbitbrush, Truckee rabbitbrush

Habit Shrubs, 10–30 cm; caudices woody, very branched, bark tan to dark gray, fibrous with age. Shrubs, 10–30 cm; with woody, branched caudices, bark becoming dark gray, fibrous with age.
Stems

ascending, green becoming tan, glabrous or puberulent, resin-dotted to resinous.

ascending, green, sparsely to densely puberulent, sparsely glandular.

Leaves

ascending to spreading;

sessile;

blades with faint midnerves, linear to oblanceolate, 10–40 × 1–2.5 mm, flat or sulcate, usually not twisted, margins eciliate or sparsely puberulent, apices acute to apiculate, faces usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent, usually gland-dotted, resinous.

ascending to spreading;

sessile;

blades with faint midnerves and pair of collaterals, narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, 10–30 × 0.7–1.2 mm, flat to sulcate, apices acute (often apiculate), faces moderately puberulent, sparsely stipitate-glandular.

Involucres

cylindric to obconic, (5–)6–8 × 2–4 mm.

turbinate, 6–10 × 3–4 mm.

Disc florets

5–7;

corollas 4.5–6.5 mm, lobes 1.2–1.7 mm;

style branches 2.5–3.8 mm, appendages 0.8–1.2 mm.

2–3(–4);

corollas 5.5–8 mm, lobes 1–1.7 mm;

style branches 2–2.7(–3.4) mm (included in or barely surpassing spreading corolla lobes), appendages 0.8–1.4 mm (lengths about equaling stigmatic portion).

Phyllaries

12–18 in 3–4 series, in weak vertical ranks, mostly tan, greenish apically, midnerves evident and ± expanded distally, ovate to elliptic, unequal, 1.5–7 × 1–1.8 mm, chartaceous, weakly keeled, margins scarious, ciliate to lacerate, apices acute to obtuse-rounded, faces glabrous or gland-dotted.

(12–)14–18 in 3–4 series, ± in vertical ranks, mostly tan, sometimes green-tipped, ovate or oblong to elliptic, unequal, 2.5–7.5 × 1–1.8 mm, chartaceous, outer ± herbaceous wholly or distally, weakly keeled, midveins faint, apices acute to obtuse, faces sparsely puberulent.

Heads

in dense cymiform arrays (to 5 cm wide), sometimes overtopped by distal leaves.

in densely cymiform arrays, often overtopped by distal leaves.

Cypselae

reddish brown, cylindric to turbinate, 4–5 mm, 5–10-nerved, faces glabrous;

pappi tan (fine), 3.5–5 mm.

reddish brown, turbinate, 4–6 mm, densely hairy;

pappi tan, 5–7 mm.

2n

= 18.

= 18.

Chrysothamnus vaseyi

Chrysothamnus humilis

Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Open woods (oak or ponderosa pine) and dry meadows Sagebrush grasslands, open slopes in deserts, tolerant of alkali
Elevation 1700–2900 m (5600–9500 ft) 1400–3100 m (4600–10200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; NM; NV; UT; WY
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 191. FNA vol. 20, p. 189.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Chrysothamnus Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Chrysothamnus
Sibling taxa
C. depressus, C. eremobius, C. greenei, C. humilis, C. molestus, C. scopulorum, C. stylosus, C. viscidiflorus
C. depressus, C. eremobius, C. greenei, C. molestus, C. scopulorum, C. stylosus, C. vaseyi, C. viscidiflorus
Synonyms Bigelowia vaseyi C. viscidiflorus subsp. humilis
Name authority (A. Gray) Greene: Erythea 3: 96. (1895) Greene: Pittonia 3: 24. (1896)
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