Gutierrezia microcephala |
Gutierrezia wrightii |
|
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small-head snakeweed, sticky snakeweed, threadleaf snakeweed |
Wright's snakeweed |
|
Habit | Subshrubs, 20–140 cm. | Annuals, 30–200 cm. |
Stems | glabrous or minutely hispidulous. |
glabrous. |
Leaves | basal and proximal absent at flowering; cauline blades 1-nerved, linear or filiform to narrowly oblanceolate or lanceolate, 0.5–2.2(–4) mm wide, little reduced distally. |
proximal usually persistent at flowering, cauline blades obscurely (1-), 3-, or 5-nerved, mostly narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 40–70 × 2–4 mm, reduced distally. |
Involucres | cylindric, 1–1.5 mm diam. |
campanulate, 4.5–7.5 mm diam. |
Ray florets | 1(–2; each enclosed by conduplicate inner phyllary); corollas yellow, (1.5–)2–3.5 mm. |
8–19; corollas yellow, 5–12 mm. |
Disc florets | 1, sometimes 2 (functionally staminate; corollas broadly obdeltate-funnelform, throats widely flaring, lobes 1/3 corolla lengths, recurved-coiling). |
(30–)40–60. |
Heads | (2–6, sessile to subsessile, in compact glomerules) in flat-topped arrays. |
usually in open arrays. |
Cypselae | 1–1.8(–2.5) mm, faces densely strigoso-sericeous; pappi (rays, readily falling) of 1 series of narrowly lanceolate-oblong scales. |
0.7–2 mm, faces (pebbly or warty with raised, blisterlike oil cavities) glabrous; pappi coroniform, 0.1–0.2 mm (margins entire or obscurely denticulate or erose). |
Phyllary | apices flat. |
apices conduplicate, swollen (appearing abaxially keeled). |
2n | = 8, 16, 24, 32. |
= 8. |
Gutierrezia microcephala |
Gutierrezia wrightii |
|
Phenology | Flowering (Jun–)Jul–Dec(–Feb). | Flowering Jul–Oct(–Nov). |
Habitat | Grasslands, chaparral, oak or oak-pine woodlands, usually over gravelly or rocky limestone or gypsum substrates, dunes | Meadows and clearings in pine, pine-oak, and pine-fir woods, ditches, road cuts, alluvium |
Elevation | 800–2500 m (2600–8200 ft) | 1800–2800 m (5900–9200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Zacatecas)
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AZ; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora)
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Discussion | Gutierrezia microcephala is recognized by its perennial habit and its small, tightly clustered heads, each with 4–8 phyllaries and 1(–2) ray and disc florets. Each ray floret is enclosed by a conduplicate inner phyllary. Forms of G. sarothrae with few florets in each head can be distinguished by their bisexual and fertile disc florets and tubular-funnelform disc corollas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 92. | FNA vol. 20, p. 90. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Gutierrezia | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Gutierrezia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Brachyris microcephala, G. sarothrae var. microcephala, Xanthocephalum microcephalum | Xanthocephalum wrightii |
Name authority | (de Candolle) A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 74. (1849) | A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 78. (1853) |
Web links |