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California matchweed, matchweed, San Joaquin snakeweed, snakeweed

Arizona snakeweed

Habit Subshrubs, 20–70 cm. Annuals, 12–30 cm.
Stems

glabrous or minutely hispidulous.

glabrous.

Leaves

basal absent at flowering;

cauline blades 1-nerved, filiform to linear, 0.5–1(–1.3) mm wide, reduced distally, often reduced in arrays to tiny, curved bracts.

basal sometimes persistent, proximal usually absent at flowering;

cauline blades 1-nerved, narrowly elliptic-oblanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, 1–2 mm wide, reduced distally.

Involucres

turbinate to cylindric-turbinate (longer than diams.), 2.5–4 mm diam.

campanulate, 4–7 mm diam.

Ray florets

4–13;

corollas yellow, 2.5–7 mm.

8–15;

corollas white, drying light yellow or reddish, 6–7.5 mm.

Disc florets

(4–)6–13.

(16–)20–30(–40).

Heads

borne singly or (sometimes subsessile and in clusters of 2–3) in loose arrays.

borne singly or in loose, open arrays.

Cypselae

2–2.8 mm, faces densely strigoso-sericeous;

pappi of 1–2 series of lanceolate to oblanceolate scales 1.5–2.2 mm.

0.9–1.6 mm, faces without oil cavities, densely strigoso-sericeous (hair apices prominently bulbous-capitate);

pappi coroniform or of 1 series of basally connate scales 0.1–0.3 mm (obscured by cypsela indument).

Phyllary

apices flat.

apices flat.

2n

= 16, 24.

= 8.

Gutierrezia californica

Gutierrezia arizonica

Phenology Flowering Apr–Nov(–Dec). Flowering (Feb–)Mar–May.
Habitat Grassland, chaparral, oak woods, alluvium, rocky slopes, sometimes over serpentine Sandy or sandy-rocky plains or washes
Elevation 100–400 m (300–1300 ft) 200–1300 m (700–4300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; Mexico (Sonora)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Following D. D. Keck (1960) and M. A. Lane (1985), Gutierrezia californica is treated here as a variable taxon that includes G. divergens. O. T. Solbrig (1965, 1970) considered G. californica to be a narrow endemic restricted to serpentine outcrops of the San Francisco Bay region, in which case the earliest name for the more widely distributed plants, including those of Mexico, is G. divergens Greene. Molecular evidence (Y. Suh and B. B. Simpson 1990) tentatively supports the recognition of the serpentine endemic; more detailed sampling would be needed for an objective decision. The morphologic differences are quantitative and overlapping. Intergrades between G. californica in the broad sense and G. sarothrae are said to occur in California (Lane 1993).

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

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 93. FNA vol. 20, p. 90.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Gutierrezia Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Gutierrezia
Sibling taxa
G. arizonica, G. microcephala, G. petradoria, G. pomariensis, G. sarothrae, G. serotina, G. sphaerocephala, G. texana, G. wrightii
G. californica, G. microcephala, G. petradoria, G. pomariensis, G. sarothrae, G. serotina, G. sphaerocephala, G. texana, G. wrightii
Synonyms Brachyris californica, G. bracteata, G. divergens, Xanthocephalum californicum Greenella arizonica, Xanthocephalum arizonicum
Name authority (de Candolle) Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 2: 193. (1842) (A. Gray) M. A. Lane: Sida 8: 313. (1980)
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