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desert bird's-beak

bird-on-nest, Mount Diablo bird's-beak, Mt. Diablo bird's-beak

Stems

erect or ascending, 10–80 cm, puberulent, glabrescent.

decumbent, 5–10(–15) cm, glandular-puberulent and pilose.

Leaves

puberulent, sometimes scabrous;

proximal 10–40 mm, margins 3–7-lobed, lobes 1 mm wide;

distal 5–25 × 1 mm, margins entire.

glandular-puberulent and pilose;

proximal 10–30 mm, margins entire or 3-lobed, lobes 1–2 mm wide;

distal 10–20 × 1 mm, margins entire.

Inflorescences

capitate spikes, 3–14-flowered;

bracts 5–10, 5–20 mm, margins 5–7-lobed, lobes purple or yellow-green, linear to filiform.

spikes, 2- or 3-flowered, or flowers solitary;

bracts 2 or 3, 10–15 mm, margins 3-lobed, lobes purple distally, linear to filiform.

Pedicels

bracteoles 10–20 mm, margins entire.

bracteoles 10–15 mm, margins entire.

Flowers

calyx 10–20 mm, tube 1–3 mm, apex entire or 2-fid, cleft 0–0.5 mm;

corolla pink to lavender-pink, usually spotted with purple, 10–20 mm, throat 4–6 mm diam., abaxial lip pink or yellow, 3–6 mm, shorter than and appressed to adaxial;

stamens 4, filaments hairy, fertile pollen sacs 2 per filament, equal.

calyx 10–16 mm, tube 0 mm, apex entire;

corolla white with purple veins, 10–15 mm, throat 5–7(–9) mm diam., abaxial lip 3–5 mm, ca. equal to and appressed to adaxial;

stamens 4, filaments hairy, fertile pollen sacs 2 per filament, equal.

Capsules

oblong-lanceoloid, 7–10 mm.

oblong-ovoid, 5–7 mm.

Seeds

10–15, pale brown, ovoid, 1.5–2 mm, reticulate.

7–10, dark brown, ovoid to reniform, 1.5–2 mm, irregularly striate.

2n

= 28.

Cordylanthus eremicus

Cordylanthus nidularius

Phenology Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Dry, open serpentine in chaparral.
Elevation 600–800 m. (2000–2600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Cordylanthus eremicus is similar to C. wrightii, which also has relatively short, dense spikes and inflorescence bracts palmately three- to seven-lobed. Cordylanthus eremicus can be distinguished from C. wrightii by its gray to white hairs.

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

Cordylanthus nidularius is the only member of the genus with decumbent stems. The species is similar to C. tenuis; it differs in its white (versus pale yellow) corollas and decumbent (versus erect to ascending) stems. It grows on the eastern slopes of Mt. Diablo.

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

Key
1. Bracts: lobes purple distally, apices rounded to retuse; calyx tubes 2–3 mm; filaments hairy throughout.
subsp. eremicus
1. Bracts: lobes green to yellow-green distally, apices acute; calyx tubes 1 mm; filaments hairy distally.
subsp. kernensis
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 671. FNA vol. 17, p. 673.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Cordylanthus Orobanchaceae > Cordylanthus
Sibling taxa
C. capitatus, C. kingii, C. laxiflorus, C. nevinii, C. nidularius, C. parviflorus, C. pilosus, C. pringlei, C. ramosus, C. rigidus, C. tenuis, C. wrightii
C. capitatus, C. eremicus, C. kingii, C. laxiflorus, C. nevinii, C. parviflorus, C. pilosus, C. pringlei, C. ramosus, C. rigidus, C. tenuis, C. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
C. eremicus subsp. eremicus, C. eremicus subsp. kernensis
Synonyms Adenostegia eremica, C. ramosus subsp. eremicus
Name authority (Coville & C. V. Morton) Munz: Man. S. Calif. Bot., 483, 601. (1935) J. T. Howell: Leafl. W. Bot. 3: 207. (1943)
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