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golden-yarrow, yellow-yarrow

woolly sunflower

Habit Shrubs, 20–50(–100) cm. Annuals, perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs, 1–200 cm.
Stems

erect (woolly).

erect or decumbent, usually branched (proximally, distally, or ± throughout).

Leaves

(proximal usually mostly alternate): blades cuneate to obovate, 0.5–5 cm (the longer 1–2-pinnately lobed, lobes linear, the shorter 3–5-lobed or -toothed), ultimate margins entire, revolute, abaxial faces woolly, adaxial usually glabrate (distal leaves gradually reduced in size and lobing).

mostly cauline; mostly alternate (proximal sometimes opposite); petiolate or sessile;

blades usually 1–2(–3)-pinnately lobed, ultimate margins toothed, serrate, or entire, faces usually densely to sparsely woolly (abaxial or both, adaxial sometimes glabrescent).

Peduncles

mostly 0–2.5(–9) cm.

Involucres

campanulate, 3–7 mm diam.

campanulate to hemispheric, 3–12+ mm diam.

Receptacles

flat or convex to conic, smooth or pitted, glabrous, usually epaleate (with 1–6 hyaline paleae in E. ambiguum, obscurely setose in E. mohavense).

Ray florets

0 or 4–6(–8);

laminae golden yellow, 2–5 (× 1.5–3) mm.

0, or 4–13(–15), pistillate, fertile;

corollas yellow or white (sometimes with reddish veins in E. lanosum).

Disc florets

10–75;

corollas 2–4 mm.

(3–)10–300, bisexual, fertile;

corollas yellow, tubes shorter than or about equaling funnelform throats, lobes 5, deltate.

Phyllaries

4–7, distinct or connate at bases (broadly elliptic or ovate, carinate, apices obtuse or acute).

persistent, 4–13(–15) in 1+ series (± erect in fruit, distinct or basally connate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, herbaceous or indurate, slightly to deeply concave, usually carinate, margins sometimes scarious, abaxial faces densely to sparsely woolly).

Heads

(3–)4–7(–10) or 10–30+ per array.

radiate or discoid, borne singly or in loose to tight, corymbiform or compound-corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

1.5–3.5 mm;

pappi of 2–14 cuneate to oblanceolate (subequal), erose scales 0.5–1.3 mm.

linear-clavate to prismatic, flattened or 3-angled in rays, 4(–5)-angled in discs, hairy or glabrous;

pappi 0, or persistent, of 6–12+ (distinct) erose to laciniate or aristate scales (in 1–2 similar or contrasting series), or ± coroniform.

x

= 8.

Eriophyllum confertiflorum

Eriophyllum

Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w North America; nw Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Species 13 (13 in the flora).

Eriophyllum encompasses taxa that occur in seashore, chaparral, grassland, desert, forest, and alpine communities. Their disparateness encouraged taxonomic multiplication. Between 1890 and 1937, about 157 designations under the genus existed (L. Constance 1937). Constance reduced that taxonomic thicket to six annual and five perennial species; the perennial species E. lanatum consisted of ten varieties. Base diploid chromosome numbers for Eriophyllum (in the sense of Constance) species are x = 4, 5, and 7 for the annuals, and x = 8, 15, and 19 for the perennials (S. Carlquist 1956; J. S. Mooring 1997, 2001, 2002). Possibly, x = 15 and x = 19 represent paleopolyploidy. Only E. mohavense remains uncounted. B. G. Baldwin (1999) linked Mooring’s (1997) report of n = 19 in E. nevinii to chromosomal, morphologic, and rDNA evidence, and erected the genus Constancea on that species. Eriophyllum (in the sense of Constance) seems most closely related to the annuals Pseudobahia (x = 3, 4, 8) and Syntrichopappus (x = 6, 7). Eriophyllum (in the sense of Baldwin), Pseudobahia, and Syntrichopappus constitute a clade, and nomenclatural changes are necessary for a monophyletic classification (Baldwin and B. L. Wessa 2000; Baldwin et al. 2002). Mooring (1997) hypothesized a descending dysploidy phylogeny in Eriophyllum (in the sense of Constance) from E. nevinii. Baldwin et al. (2002, p. 174) stated that E. nevinii “is an evolutionary outlier (although probably not ancestral) to” Eriophyllum in the sense of Constance.

Natural intertaxon hybrids have been reported for the perennial species (L. Constance 1937; J. S. Mooring 1994) but not for the annuals. Experimental hybridizations have produced sterile hybrids between the annual E. congdonii and the perennial E. lanatum. Experimental crosses among seven of the annual species produced fertile hybrids between two morphologically similar species; the other combinations either failed or produced sterile hybrids (Mooring 2002).

D. P. Tibor (2001) cited nine taxa of Eriophyllum as rare or endangered: the perennials E. confertiflorum var. tanacetiflorum, E. jepsonii, E. latilobum, E. (Constancea) nevinii, and E. lanatum vars. hallii and obovatum, and the annuals E. congdonii, E. mohavense, and E. nubigenum.

Here, accounts of the annuals are by D. E. Johnson, the perennials by J. S. Mooring.

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

Key
1. Heads 10–30+ per array; peduncles 0–1(–2) cm; involucres 3–5 mm diam.; disc corollas 2–3 mm
var. confertiflorum
1. Heads (3–)4–7(–10) per array; peduncles 0–2.5(–9) cm; involucres 5–7 mm diam.; disc corollas 3.5–4 mm
var. tanacetiflorum
1. Perennials (sometimes flowering in first year), subshrubs, or shrubs, (10–)20–150 cm
→ 2
1. Annuals, 1–15(–30) cm
→ 6
2. Perennials or subshrubs; heads borne singly or 2–5(–10) per array; peduncles (2–)3–30 cm; ray laminae 6–20 mm
→ 3
2. Subshrubs or shrubs; heads 2–30+, or 40–80+, per array; peduncles 0–10(–14) cm; ray laminae 2–10 mm
→ 4
3. Peduncles 3–30 cm; involucres 6–15 mm diam.; ray florets 0, or 5–13(–15), lami-nae 6–20 mm; disc florets 20–300; British Columbia, w United States
E. lanatum
3. Peduncles 2–7 cm; involucres 5–6(–7) mm diam.; ray florets (6–)8–10(–13), lami-nae 6–10 mm; disc florets 40–75; California
E. latilobum
4. Subshrubs, 30–150 cm; phyllaries 8–11; ray florets 0, or 6–9, laminae 3–5 mm; coastal dunes and bluffs
E. staechadifolium
4. Shrubs, 20–100 cm; phyllaries 4–8; ray florets 0, or 4–8, laminae 2–10 mm; mostly not coastal
→ 5
5. Heads 2–4 per array; peduncles mostly 5–10(–14) cm; ray florets 6–8, laminae 6–10 mm; California (Inner Coast Ranges)
E. jepsonii
5. Heads (3–)4–7(–10) or 10–30+ per array; peduncles mostly 0–2.5(–9) cm; ray florets 0 or 4–6(–8), laminae 2–5 mm; California, Mexico
E. confertiflorum
6. Peduncles ± 0.1 cm
→ 7
6. Peduncles 1–10 cm
→ 9
7. Ray florets 5–7
E. multicaule
7. Ray florets 0
→ 8
8. Leaf margins weakly, if at all, revolute, apices acute; phyllaries 3–4
E. mohavense
8. Leaf margins strongly revolute, apices ± rounded; phyllaries 6–8
E. pringlei
9. Ray laminae cream or yellow, or white with red veins (lobes of disc corollas glandular; anther appendages subulate)
→ 10
9. Ray laminae yellow (lobes of disc corollas not glandular; anther appendages deltate)
→ 11
10. Ray laminae white with red veins; cypselae 2.5–4.5 mm; pappi of 5 subulate scales 1.5–2.5 mm plus 4 oblong scales ± 0.5 mm
E. lanosum
10. Ray laminae usually cream or yellow, sometimes white with red veins; cypselae ± 2 mm; pappi usually of 6–10 ± oblong scales 0.4–0.8 mm, rarely 0
E. wallacei
11. Anther appendages not glandular; pappi 0, or of 6–10 scales 0.1–0.5 mm
E. ambiguum
11. Anther appendages glandular; pappi of 8–10 lanceolate to spatulate (± unequal) scales 0.5–1.5 mm, or of 3–5 ± spatulate scales 0.5–1 mm plus 3–5 lanceolate scales 1.5–2 mm.
→ 12
12. Stems ascending; ray laminae ± 1 mm (inconspicuous); 1800–2500 m
E. nubigenum
12. Stems ± spreading; ray laminae 3–5 mm; 500–1900 m
E. congdonii
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 361. FNA vol. 21, p. 353. Authors: Dale E. Johnson, John S. Mooring.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Baeriinae > Eriophyllum Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Baeriinae
Sibling taxa
E. ambiguum, E. congdonii, E. jepsonii, E. lanatum, E. lanosum, E. latilobum, E. mohavense, E. multicaule, E. nubigenum, E. pringlei, E. staechadifolium, E. wallacei
Subordinate taxa
E. confertiflorum var. confertiflorum, E. confertiflorum var. tanacetiflorum
E. ambiguum, E. confertiflorum, E. congdonii, E. jepsonii, E. lanatum, E. lanosum, E. latilobum, E. mohavense, E. multicaule, E. nubigenum, E. pringlei, E. staechadifolium, E. wallacei
Synonyms Bahia confertiflora
Name authority (de Candolle) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 25. (1883) Lagasca: Gen. Sp. Pl., 28. (1816)
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