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Virgin River brittlebush, Virgin River encelia

brittlebush, incienso

Habit Shrubs, 50–150 cm. Shrubs, 30–150 cm (sap fragrant).
Stems

with slender branches from bases, hairy, developing fissured barks.

branched distally, tomentose, developing smooth barks.

Leaves

cauline;

petioles 2–7 mm;

blades gray-green, narrowly ovate to deltate, 12–25 mm, apices acute or obtuse, faces sparsely canescent and strigose.

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.

Peduncles

canescent.

glabrous except near heads (± yellow).

Involucres

9–13 mm.

4–10 mm.

Ray florets

11–21;

corolla laminae 8–15 mm.

11–21;

corolla laminae 8–12 mm.

Disc corollas

yellow, 5–6 mm.

yellow or brown-purple, 5–6 mm.

Phyllaries

narrowly ovate.

lanceolate.

Heads

borne singly.

in paniculiform arrays (branching among heads mainly distal).

Cypselae

5–8 mm;

pappi usually 0, rarely of 1–2 bristlelike awns.

3–6 mm;

pappi 0.

2n

= 36.

= 36.

Encelia virginensis

Encelia farinosa

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun, Dec. Flowering Feb–May, Aug–Sep.
Habitat Desert flats, rocky slopes, roadsides Coastal scrub, stony desert hillsides
Elevation 500–1500 m (1600–4900 ft) 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In the mountains of the eastern Mojave Desert in California, Encelia virginensis may intergrade with E. actoni at higher elevations, probably as a result of hybridization. Plants of E. virginensis in New Mexico may be adventive.

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

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.)

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 121. FNA vol. 21, p. 121.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Encelia Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Encelia
Sibling taxa
E. actoni, E. californica, E. farinosa, E. frutescens, E. nutans, E. resinifera, E. scaposa
E. actoni, E. californica, E. frutescens, E. nutans, E. resinifera, E. scaposa, E. virginensis
Synonyms E. frutescens var. virginensis E. farinosa var. phenicodonta
Name authority A. Nelson: Bot. Gaz. 37: 272. (1904) A. Gray ex Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Not. Milit. Reconn., 143. (1848)
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