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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
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Zacatecas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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
G. arizonica, G. californica, G. petradoria, G. pomariensis, G. sarothrae, G. serotina, G. sphaerocephala, G. texana, G. wrightii
G. arizonica, G. californica, G. microcephala, G. petradoria, G. pomariensis, G. sarothrae, G. serotina, G. sphaerocephala, G. texana
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)
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