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Vasey's rabbitbrush

green rabbit-brush, sticky-flower rabbitbrush, sticky-leaf rabbit-brush, yellow rabbitbrush

Habit Shrubs, 10–30 cm; caudices woody, very branched, bark tan to dark gray, fibrous with age. Shrubs, 10–120 cm; with woody, branched caudices, bark whitish tan, becoming gray, flaky and fibrous with age.
Stems

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

ascending, green, soon becoming tan, glabrous or puberulent, sometimes resin-dotted, often resinous.

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, spreading, or deflexed;

sessile;

blades with evident midnerves plus sometimes 1–2 pairs of smaller, collateral nerves, linear to lanceolate, 10–75 × 0.5–10 mm, flat or sulcate, often twisted, margins often undulate, sometimes ciliate, apices acute to apiculate, faces glabrous or puberulent.

Involucres

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

cylindric to obconic or campanulate, 4–7 × 1.5–2.5 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.

(3–)4–5(–14);

corollas 3.5–6.5 mm, lobes 0.7–1.7 mm;

style branches 2.2–3.2 mm (exserted beyond spreading corolla lobes), appendages 0.8–1.5 mm (length shorter than 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.

12–24 in 3–5 series, in spirals or weak vertical ranks, mostly tan, green to brown subapical patch often present, midnerves usually evident (at least distally), linear-oblong, lanceolate to elliptic or obovate to spatulate, 1–5 × 0.5–1.2 mm, unequal, chartaceous, margins scarious, eciliate or ciliolate to erose-ciliolate, flat or convex, sometimes weakly keeled, apices acute to obtuse or rounded, sometimes apiculate, flat, faces glabrous or puberulent.

Heads

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

in dense, rounded cymiform arrays (to 7 cm wide), not 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.

tan to reddish brown, turbinate, 2.5–4.2 mm, ± 5-angled, moderately to densely hairy;

pappi tan, 3.5–6 mm.

2n

= 18.

Chrysothamnus vaseyi

Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus

Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Open woods (oak or ponderosa pine) and dry meadows
Elevation 1700–2900 m (5600–9500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; NM; NV; UT; WY
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaves flat, glabrous; corollas 3.5–4.5 mm; nc Arizona
subsp. planifolius
1. Leaves twisted or hairy, or corollas 3.5–6.5 mm; w United States
→ 2
2. Distal stems, and frequently leaves, hairy
→ 3
2. Stems glabrous; leaves glabrous, margins ciliate
→ 4
3. Stems greenish, hirtellous to puberulent; leaves green, 3- or 5-nerved, 2–6 mm wide, abaxial faces hirsute to hirtellous, adaxial usually glabrous
subsp. lanceolatus
3. Stems and leaves grayish green, densely puberulent; leaves 1–2(–4) mm wide; 1-nerved (sometimes 3-nerved proximally)
subsp. puberulus
4. Leaves 0.5–1 mm wide; florets 3–4(–5); involucres ± turbinate
subsp. axillaris
4. Leaves 1–10 mm wide; if 1 mm wide, involucres narrowly cylindric, and florets 4–14
subsp. viscidiflorus
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 191. FNA vol. 20, p. 191.
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. humilis, C. molestus, C. scopulorum, C. stylosus, C. vaseyi
Subordinate taxa
C. viscidiflorus subsp. axillaris, C. viscidiflorus subsp. lanceolatus, C. viscidiflorus subsp. planifolius, C. viscidiflorus subsp. puberulus, C. viscidiflorus subsp. viscidiflorus
Synonyms Bigelowia vaseyi Crinitaria viscidiflora
Name authority (A. Gray) Greene: Erythea 3: 96. (1895) (Hooker) Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 324. (1840)
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