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silver-hair ivesia, silverhair mousetail

Sierra Valley ivesia, Sierra Valley mousetail

Habit Plants greenish gray to silvery; glands sparse.
Stems

decumbent to erect, 1.5–4.5 dm.

Basal leaves

(7–)10–20(–23) cm; sheathing base densely strigose abaxially;

stipules absent;

petiole 4–8 cm, hairs abundant, ascending, ± 1(–3) mm;

leaflets 20–35 per side, loosely overlapping, 3–15(–20) mm, lobes 0–4(–5), oblanceolate to elliptic, hairs abundant, ascending to appressed, ± 1(–2) mm.

Cauline leaves

3–8.

Inflorescences

(10–)20–250-flowered, 1–14 cm diam., flowers arranged in several to many tight glomerules of 5–20 flowers.

Pedicels

1–3(–15) mm.

Flowers

5–12 mm diam.;

epicalyx bractlets lanceolate, 1.5–2.5(–3.5) mm;

hypanthium cupulate, 1–2 × 2.5–4(–5) mm, 1/2–2/3 as deep as wide;

sepals green, 2.5–4(–5.5) mm, acute to acuminate;

petals light yellow, oblanceolate to broadly obovate, 2–7 mm;

stamens 20, filaments filiform, 1–4 mm, anthers yellow, 0.4–0.6 mm;

carpels 2–7, styles 2–4 mm.

Achenes

brown, 2–3 mm.

Ivesia argyrocoma

Ivesia aperta

Distribution
from FNA
CA; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

Plants from the central Sierra San Pedro Mártir in northern Baja California belong to var. moranii Ertter & Reveal, which may be distinguished by its compact stature (to 0.5 dm), densely villous basal stipules 2–4 mm, decumbent stems 2–7 cm that are stipitate-glandular under the villous indumentum, and solitary, loosely congested cyme. The petals are oblanceolate to narrowly obovate and 2.5–3.5 mm. The grayish, faintly mottled achenes are 1.3–2 mm.

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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Many historic collections of Ivesia aperta were identified as I. pickeringii. D. D. Keck (1938) considered I. aperta to be no more than a yellow-flowered form of I. sericoleuca, a situation clarified and rectified by J. T. Howell (1962). The ranges of the two species overlap in Sierra Valley, California, with mixed populations occurring near Beckwourth and in the valleys north of Sierra Valley. In general, var. aperta occurs in the southeastern portions of the valley and I. sericoleuca occurs on the western side; the species are not otherwise sympatric. In addition to petal color, which fades in herbarium material, I. aperta differs from I. sericoleuca in having smaller flowers with shallower hypanthia. Hairs at the base of the stems and petioles of I. aperta are relatively short (to 2 mm) and generally ascending; those of I. sericoleuca are longer (to 4 mm) and spreading. Variety canina combines the petal color of var. aperta and floral dimensions of I. sericoleuca.

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

Key
1. Petals 2–3 mm, oblanceolate; filaments 1–1.5(–2) mm; Sierra Valley drainage, California, Carson and Virginia ranges, Nevada.
var. aperta
1. Petals usually 4–7 mm, narrowly to broadly obovate; filaments 2–4 mm; Dog Valley, California, Nevada.
var. canina
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 242. FNA vol. 9, p. 240.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Ivesia > sect. Unguiculatae Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Ivesia > sect. Unguiculatae
Sibling taxa
I. aperta, I. arizonica, I. baileyi, I. callida, I. campestris, I. cryptocaulis, I. gordonii, I. jaegeri, I. kingii, I. longibracteata, I. lycopodioides, I. muirii, I. multifoliolata, I. paniculata, I. patellifera, I. pickeringii, I. pityocharis, I. pygmaea, I. rhypara, I. sabulosa, I. santolinoides, I. saxosa, I. sericoleuca, I. setosa, I. shockleyi, I. tweedyi, I. unguiculata, I. utahensis, I. webberi
I. argyrocoma, I. arizonica, I. baileyi, I. callida, I. campestris, I. cryptocaulis, I. gordonii, I. jaegeri, I. kingii, I. longibracteata, I. lycopodioides, I. muirii, I. multifoliolata, I. paniculata, I. patellifera, I. pickeringii, I. pityocharis, I. pygmaea, I. rhypara, I. sabulosa, I. santolinoides, I. saxosa, I. sericoleuca, I. setosa, I. shockleyi, I. tweedyi, I. unguiculata, I. utahensis, I. webberi
Subordinate taxa
I. argyrocoma var. argyrocoma
I. aperta var. aperta, I. aperta var. canina
Synonyms Horkelia argyrocoma, Potentilla argyrocoma Potentilla aperta
Name authority (Rydberg) Rydberg: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 284. (1908) (J. T. Howell) Munz: Suppl. Calif. Fl., 111. (1968)
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