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subalpine gumweed

curly-cup gumweed, curly-top gum-weed, resinweed, serrate resinweed

Habit Biennials or perennials (perhaps flowering first year), 15–30(–60) cm. Biennials, perennials, or subshrubs (perhaps flowering first year, usually short-lived), (10–)40–100 cm.
Stems

erect, usually reddish, sometimes stramineous, glabrous.

erect, usually whitish or stramineous, sometimes reddish or grayish, glabrous.

Cauline leaf

blades spatulate or oblanceolate to oblong or lanceolate, 15–70 mm, lengths 3–5(–7) times widths, bases ± cuneate or clasping, margins usually dentate or serrate (teeth apiculate), sometimes entire, apices rounded or obtuse to acute, faces glabrous (or, near margins, scabridulous) and sparsely to densely gland-dotted.

blades oval, ovate, obovate, or oblong to spatulate, oblanceolate, lanceolate, or linear, (10–)15–70 mm, lengths 2–5(–10) times widths, bases ± clasping, margins usually crenate to serrate (teeth mostly 3–6+ per cm, rounded to obtuse, resin-tipped), rarely entire, apices obtuse to acute, faces glabrous, strongly gland-dotted.

Involucres

broadly urceolate to globose, 8–11 × 10–20 mm.

broadly urceolate to hemispheric or globose, 6–11 × 8–20+ mm.

Ray florets

18–27;

laminae 10–15 mm.

0 or (12–)24–36(–40);

laminae 8–14 mm.

Phyllaries

in 5–6 series, linear or lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, apices looped to hooked (outer) or recurved to nearly straight, terete to subulate or acuminate, slightly to moderately resinous.

in 5–6 series, reflexed to spreading or appressed, filiform or linear to lance-linear or lance-subulate, apices usually looped to hooked, sometimes recurved to nearly straight, subterete to subulate, moderately to strongly resinous.

Heads

usually in open, corymbiform to paniculiform arrays, seldom borne singly.

usually in open to crowded, corymbiform arrays, rarely borne singly.

Cypselae

whitish or stramineous, 2.5–5 mm, apices smooth or weakly coronate, faces smooth or finely furrowed;

pappi of 4–8 straight, barbellate to barbellulate bristles or setiform awns 2.5–5.5 mm, shorter than disc corollas.

whitish, stramineous, brown, or gray, 1.5–4.5 mm, apices smooth, coronate, or knobby, faces smooth, striate, or ± furrowed;

pappi of 2–3(–8), straight or contorted to curled, smooth or barbellulate to barbellate, subulate scales or setiform awns 2.5–5.5 mm, shorter than disc corollas.

2n

= 12.

= 12.

Grindelia subalpina

Grindelia squarrosa

Phenology Flowering Jul–Aug. Flowering Jul–Sep(–Oct).
Habitat Dry, open, sandy or gravelly slopes, ridges, valleys, stream banks, waste grounds Disturbed sites, plains, hills, roadsides, along streams, sands, clays, and subalkaline soils
Elevation 1600–2900 m (5200–9500 ft) (10–)200–2900 m ((0–)700–9500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; QC; SK; Mexico (Chihuahua) [Introduced in Asia (Ukraine)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Grindelia squarrosa is probably native to the Great Plains and, perhaps, Rocky Mountain areas; it is widely introduced in other areas. Some plants are intermediate between it and G. hirsutula (i.e., between G. squarrosa and G. perennis, which has been treated as a variety of G. squarrosa). Plants of G. squarrosa with relatively narrow leaf blades (lengths mostly 5–8 times widths), mostly from the western part of the range of the species, have been treated as G. squarrosa var. serrulata. G. L. Nesom (1990i) and others have treated discoid plants included here in G. squarrosa as distinct (as G. aphanactis, G. nuda, and/or G. nuda vars. aphanactis and nuda); Nesom reported cypselae to be dimorphic in heads of radiate plants and monomorphic in discoid plants and noted that populations with discoid plants occur mostly south and west of populations with radiate plants. According to Nesom, plants of G. nuda with stems usually reddish (versus sometimes greenish), lengths of blades of mid-cauline leaves 4–10 (versus 1.5–4) times widths, and cypselae ± deeply furrowed (versus striate to shallowly furrowed) should be called G. nuda var. aphanactis.

Hybrids between Grindelia squarrosa (nuda) and G. arizonica have been recorded from Arizona and New Mexico.

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

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 434. FNA vol. 20, p. 429.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Grindelia Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Grindelia
Sibling taxa
G. adenodonta, G. arizonica, G. ciliata, G. decumbens, G. fraxinipratensis, G. grandiflora, G. havardii, G. hirsutula, G. howellii, G. integrifolia, G. lanceolata, G. microcephala, G. oölepis, G. oxylepis, G. pusilla, G. scabra, G. squarrosa
G. adenodonta, G. arizonica, G. ciliata, G. decumbens, G. fraxinipratensis, G. grandiflora, G. havardii, G. hirsutula, G. howellii, G. integrifolia, G. lanceolata, G. microcephala, G. oölepis, G. oxylepis, G. pusilla, G. scabra, G. subalpina
Synonyms G. erecta, G. subalpina var. erecta Donia squarrosa, G. aphanactis, G. nuda, G. nuda var. aphanactis, G. serrulata, G. squarrosa var. nuda, G. squarrosa var. serrulata
Name authority Greene: Pittonia 3: 297. (1898) (Pursh) Dunal: Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. 5: 50. (1819)
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