Lasthenia maritima
Lasthenia
hairy goldfields, maritime goldfields, maritime or seaside goldfields, seaside goldfields
goldfields
usually prostrate or decumbent, rarely erect, branched proximally, glabrous or hairy at nodes and distally.
usually erect, sometimes decumbent, prostrate, or sprawling, simple or branched (usually distally, often proximally in decumbent plants).
linear to oblanceolate, 10–90 × 2–12 mm, (fleshy) margins entire or lobed, faces glabrous.
mostly cauline; opposite; petiolate or sessile;
blades usually linear, often 1(–2)-pinnately lobed, ultimate margins entire or toothed, faces glabrous or hairy.
hemispheric, 4–7 mm.
obconic to hemispheric, 3–5+ mm diam.
conic, muricate, glabrous.
hemispheric to narrowly conic or subulate, smooth, papillate, or pitted, glabrous or hairy, epaleate.
7–12; (corollas light to golden yellow) laminae oblong, 1–3 mm.
4–16, pistillate, fertile;
corollas yellow to orangish (sometimes white in L. debilis, often somewhat darker proximally, laminae rarely lacking in L. glaberrima and L. microglossa).
5–100+, bisexual, fertile;
corollas yellow to orangish (sometimes white in L. debilis), tubes shorter than or about equaling funnelform or campanulate throats, lobes (4–)5, deltate.
6–14, lanceolate to ovate, hairy (especially at margins and midribs).
usually persistent, sometimes falling with cypselae, 4–18 in 1(–2) series (usually ± erect in fruit, distinct or ± connate, narrowly oblong to broadly ovate, mostly herbaceous, bases flat or weakly cupped, faces not woolly, except sometimes in L. minor and L. platycarpha).
usually radiate, sometimes ± disciform (in L. glaberrima and L. microglossa), borne singly or in ± corymbiform arrays.
gray, linear to narrowly clavate, (2–)2.5–3 mm, ± hairy;
pappi usually of 4–6(–12) brown, lanceolate or subulate, aristate scales plus 4–5+ shorter, laciniate scales, rarely 0.
(black to gray) usually cylindric to obovoid, glabrous or hairy, sometimes papillate (flattened, margins fringed with blunt, curved hairs in L. chrysantha);
pappi 0, or of 1–12 erose, fimbriate, or laciniate, truncate or aristate scales (sometimes 2 kinds in combination on single cypselae).
appendages ± oblong, obtuse (style apices ± deltate, glabrous or with apical tufts of hairs and subapical fringes of shorter hairs).
= 8.
= 8.
Lasthenia maritima
Lasthenia
Lasthenia maritima is a self-pollinating, “guano endemic” of seabird nesting grounds. It is typically found on offshore islands and rocks from the Farallon Islands, California, to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia and rarely occurs on the mainland.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 18 (17 in the flora).
Lasthenias occur in a wide variety of habitats; some are particularly conspicuous members of vernal-pool floras. The characteristic rich, golden yellow color of Lasthenia gracilis can be seen to cover thousands of hectares of grasslands and open woodlands in early spring, giving the genus its common name. Relatively few taxa are widely distributed; most have relatively restricted distributions. Some are considered to be of conservation concern.
Lasthenia glaberrima, L. kunthii, L. maritima, and L. microglossa are self-pollinating; the rest are self-incompatible, obligate outcrossers. Lasthenia ornduffii and two subspecies of L. californica are perennial; the rest are spring annuals. It is not uncommon to find two Lasthenia species growing more or less sympatrically (in discrete populations).
Most lasthenias show a wide latitude of morphologic response to environmental conditions. Growth of individual plants of Lasthenia is robust in good conditions; in unfavorable conditions, single stems terminating in relatively small heads with relatively few florets are produced. Other morphologic characters such as the degree of leaf dissection, leaf margin, and pappus elements sometimes are plastic.
Circumscriptions of taxa here are based on R. Ornduff (1966b) with realignments proposed by R. Chan (2000). Sections are characterized by morphology, chromosome numbers, biochemistry, ecology, and molecular data.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Phyllaries connate 2/3+ their lengths | → 2 |
1. Phyllaries distinct or connate 1/4–1/2 their lengths | → 3 |
2. Cypselae epappose | sect. Hologymne |
2. Cypselae pappose | sect. Lasthenia |
3. Leaves entire or ± toothed (not pinnatifid); corolla floral pigments turning deep red in dilute aqueous alkali | → 4 |
3. Leaves (especially midstem) usually 1(–2)-pinnately lobed or -pinnatifid, sometimes entire; corolla floral pigments remaining yellow in dilute aqueous alkali | → 5 |
4. Ray laminae 2.5–16 mm; receptacles usually narrowly conic to conic (subulate in L. leptalea, ray laminae 2.5–5 mm) | sect. Amphiachaenia |
4. Ray laminae 0–1 mm (and anther appendages eglandular), or 3–5 mm; receptacles subulate | sect. Burrielia |
5. Cypselae to 1.5 mm | sect. Ornduffia |
5. Cypselae 1.5–3.5 mm | → 6 |
6. Cypselae pappose (pappi of 4–6 lanceolate to ovate, aristate scales) | sect. Platycarpha |
6. Cypselae epappose or pappose (pappi of 2–12 lanceolate, ovate, subulate, aristate scales, sometimes plus 4–5+ shorter, truncate, fimbriate, or laciniate scales) | sect. Ptilomeris |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
