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desert bird's-beak

Pringle's bird's-beak

Stems

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

erect or ascending, 30–120(–150) cm, glabrous or puberulent.

Leaves

puberulent, sometimes scabrous;

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

distal 5–25 × 1 mm, margins entire.

puberulent or glabrous;

proximal 10–40 mm, margins 3-lobed, lobes 1–2 mm wide;

distal 5–20 × 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.

capitate spikes, 2–4-flowered, 15–20 mm;

bracts 1–3, flabelliform, 5–8 mm, margins 3–7-lobed, lobes green, narrowly ovate.

Pedicels

bracteoles 10–20 mm, margins entire.

bracteoles 8–10 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 8–10 mm, tube 0 mm, apex 2-fid, cleft 0.5–1 mm;

corolla pale yellow to yellow with purple markings, 8–9 mm, throat 4 mm diam., adaxial lip 3–4 mm, ca. equal to and appressed to adaxial;

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

Capsules

oblong-lanceoloid, 7–10 mm.

oblong-ovoid, 5–8 mm.

Seeds

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

4–6, dark brown, ovoid to narrowly reniform, 2.5–3 mm, striate.

2n

= 28.

Cordylanthus eremicus

Cordylanthus pringlei

Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Dry openings in chaparral and mixed-evergreen forests.
Elevation 300–1900 m. (1000–6200 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 pringlei grows in the Coast Range of California. The species is distinctive because of its flabelliform inflorescence bracts and relatively short corollas.

(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. 674.
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. nidularius, C. parviflorus, C. pilosus, 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) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 94. (1883)
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