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Palmer goldenweed, Palmer's goldenbush

Habit Plants 50–400 cm.
Stems

erect, much branched, twigs crowded, green when young, becoming reddish brown to gray, glabrous or sparsely hairy, usually covered with resin-filled pits.

Leaves

(moderately crowded) ascending to spreading;

blades linear to narrowly oblanceolate (terete, sulcate, or flattened), 5–50 × 0.5–2 mm, midnerves obscure or evident abaxially, apices acute, faces glabrous or moderately hairy, gland-dotted (in circular, deep pits), resinous;

axillary fascicles with 1–10 leaves, shorter than subtending leaves.

Peduncles

2–15 mm (bracts 5–10+, leaflike).

Involucres

turbinate to subcampanulate, 4–7 × 2.5–4 mm.

Ray florets

2–8;

laminae 4–5 × 1–1.8 mm.

Disc florets

6–20;

corollas 5–7 mm.

Phyllaries

16–24 in 3–5 series, mostly tan, narrowly oblong to elliptic, 1.5–6 × 0.4–0.8 mm, unequal, mostly chartaceous, midnerves evident on at least distal 1/2, slightly to strongly thickened, expanded distally, (margins narrowly membranous, sometimes ciliate distally) apices acute to rounded, abaxial faces glabrous, outer sometimes gland-dotted (sessile), frequently resinous.

Heads

in racemiform to thyrsiform arrays (to 50 × 2–15 cm).

Cypselae

tan to brown, subcylindric, 3.5–4 mm, moderately to densely hairy;

pappi off-white to brown, 5–8 mm.

2n

= 18.

Ericameria palmeri

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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Leaves 8–20(–30) mm; axillary leaves 2–10 per fascicle; subapical resin ducts on at least outer and mid phyllaries strongly thickened; midnerves usually not evident on proximal 1/2 of each phyllary; florets 6–12(–14); Riverside to Ventura counties, California
var. pachylepis
1. Leaves 20–40 mm; axillary leaves 1–2 per fascicle; subapical resin ducts on phyllaries not strongly thickened; midnerves usually evident on proximal 1/2 of each phyllary; florets 12–30; San Diego County, California
var. palmeri
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 70.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Ericameria
Sibling taxa
E. albida, E. arborescens, E. arizonica, E. bloomeri, E. brachylepis, E. cervina, E. compacta, E. cooperi, E. crispa, E. cuneata, E. discoidea, E. ericoides, E. fasciculata, E. gilmanii, E. greenei, E. laricifolia, E. lignumviridis, E. linearifolia, E. linearis, E. nana, E. nauseosa, E. obovata, E. ophitidis, E. paniculata, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pinifolia, E. resinosa, E. suffruticosa, E. teretifolia, E. watsonii, E. winwardii, E. zionis
Subordinate taxa
E. palmeri var. pachylepis, E. palmeri var. palmeri
Synonyms Haplopappus palmeri
Name authority (A. Gray) H. M. Hall: Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 3: 53. (1907)
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