Encelia farinosa
Encelia scaposa
brittlebush, incienso
onehead brittlebush
branched distally, tomentose, developing smooth barks.
contracted, at soil surface or ± subterranean (except peduncles).
cauline (clustered near stem tips);
petioles 10–20 mm;
blades silver or gray, ovate to lanceolate, 20–70 mm, apices obtuse or acute, faces tomentose.
mostly basal;
petioles ± wanting or merging with blades;
blades greenish to cinereous, (proximalmost scalelike) mostly narrowly oblanceolate to linear, 30–100 mm (including attenuate bases, mostly 1–8 mm wide), faces ± hirtellous to scabrellous.
glabrous except near heads (± yellow).
± scabrellous.
4–10 mm.
12–22 mm.
11–21;
corolla laminae 8–12 mm.
20–40.
yellow or brown-purple, 5–6 mm.
yellow, ca. 5 mm.
lanceolate.
linear.
in paniculiform arrays (branching among heads mainly distal).
borne singly.
3–6 mm;
pappi 0.
(cuneate to obovate) ca. 5 mm (faces ± villous);
pappi (readily falling) of 2 (± villous) bristlelike awns.
= 36.
Encelia farinosa
Encelia scaposa
Plants of Encelia farinosa with brown-purple disc corollas, found along the Colorado and Salt rivers, and common in Baja California, are var. phenicodonta. Plants with substrigose leaves, capitulescences branched toward bases rather than distally, and ray florets reduced in both size and number are most often hybrids and backcrosses between E. farinosa and E. frutescens. P. A. Munz (1959) indicated that I. L. Wiggins had reported var. radians Brandegee ex S. F. Blake as occurring in southeastern California; that variety is known only from Baja California.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Although Encelia scaposa traditionally has been included within Encelia, it seems misplaced here. Its cypselae differ from those of other encelias in lacking a narrowed apical notch and in having more or less villous (rather than mostly glabrous) faces. Molecular evidence suggests that it may be closer to Flourensia than to members of the alliance comprising Encelia, Enceliopsis, and Geraea.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
