Flora of North America species comparison

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Lasthenia gracilis

common goldfields, needle goldfields
Habit Annuals, to 40 cm.
Stems

erect or decumbent, usually branched distally (sometimes proximally in desert forms), ± hairy (more so distally).
Leaves

linear to oblanceolate, 8–40(–70) × 1–3(–6) mm, (± fleshy in coastal forms) margins entire or with 3–5+ teeth, faces ± hairy.
Involucres

campanulate or hemispheric, 5–10 mm.
Receptacles

conic, muricate, glabrous.
Ray florets

6–13;

laminae oblong, 5–10 mm.
Phyllaries

(persistent or falling with cypselae) 4–13 (in 1 series), ovate-lanceolate to oblong, ± hairy.
Cypselae

black to gray, ± linear, to 3 mm, glabrous or hairy;

pappi usually of (2–)4(–6) opaque, white (aging to brown), ovate-lanceolate, aristate scales, sometimes 0.
Anther

appendages deltate.
2n

= 16, 32.

Lasthenia gracilis
Phenology Flowering Feb–Jun.
Habitat Mostly open sites (virtually all habitats)
Elevation 0–1500 m [0–4900 ft]
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

D. D. Keck (1959c) said of Lasthenia gracilis (as Baeria chrysostoma subsp. gracilis), “The most abundant composite in the state [of California].” It is widespread throughout California, central Arizona, the Channel Islands, Guadalupe Island, and Baja California. It is variable and is sometimes similar to L. californica subsp. californica, from which it differs in its opaque, white, ovate-lanceolate, aristate pappus scales. Coastal forms of L. gracilis tend to have shorter, wider, fleshy leaves. Lasthenia gracilis often occurs with other Lasthenia species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Baeriinae > Lasthenia > sect. Amphiachaenia
Sibling taxa
L. burkei, L. californica, L. chrysantha, L. conjugens, L. coronaria, L. debilis, L. ferrisiae, L. fremontii, L. glaberrima, L. glabrata, L. leptalea, L. maritima, L. microglossa, L. minor, L. ornduffii, L. platycarpha
Synonyms Burrielia gracilis, Baeria chrysostoma subsp. gracilis, Baeria gracilis
Name authority (de Candolle) Greene: Man. Bot. San Francisco, 206. (1894)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 340. Treatment authors: Raymund Chan, Robert Ornduff†.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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