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slender bird's-beak, sticky birdbeak

Stems

erect to ascending, 20–80(–120) cm, glabrous or sparsely glandular-puberulent, puberulent, and/or pilose.

Leaves

puberulent, often pilose, or glabrous;

proximal 20–60 mm, margins entire or 3-lobed, lobes 0.5–1 mm wide;

distal 10–40 × 0.3–2 mm, margins entire.

Inflorescences

spikes, 2–7-flowered, or flowers solitary;

bracts 1–4, 5–20 mm, margins entire or 3-lobed, lobes green or purple distally, narrowly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apex rounded.

Pedicels

bracteoles 10–20 mm, margins entire or toothed.

Flowers

calyx 10–20 mm, tube 0 mm, apex 2-fid, cleft 1 mm;

corolla pale yellow, marked with purple along veins and galea, 10–20 mm, throat 6–8 mm diam., abaxial lip 4–6 mm, ca. equal to and appressed to adaxial;

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

Capsules

narrowly ovoid, 5–10 mm.

Seeds

6–16, dark brown, ovoid to rhomboid, 1.5–2.5 mm, striate.

Cordylanthus tenuis

Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Leaf lobes filiform; stems glabrous proximally.
subsp. brunneus
1. Leaves or leaf lobes linear to linear-lanceolate; stems puberulent, glandular-puberulent, glandular-pubescent, and/or pilose proximally.
→ 2
2. Bracts densely hirsute.
subsp. barbatus
2. Bracts hirsute or pilose.
→ 3
3. Bracts entire.
subsp. tenuis
3. Bracts 3-lobed, sometimes entire.
→ 4
4. Leaves yellow-green; inflorescences 4–6-flowered.
subsp. pallescens
4. Leaves green to gray-green; inflorescences 1–3-flowered.
subsp. viscidus
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 676.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Cordylanthus
Sibling taxa
C. capitatus, C. eremicus, C. kingii, C. laxiflorus, C. nevinii, C. nidularius, C. parviflorus, C. pilosus, C. pringlei, C. ramosus, C. rigidus, C. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
C. tenuis subsp. barbatus, C. tenuis subsp. brunneus, C. tenuis subsp. pallescens, C. tenuis subsp. tenuis, C. tenuis subsp. viscidus
Synonyms Adenostegia tenuis
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 383. (1868)
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