Lasthenia maritima
Lasthenia gracilis
hairy goldfields, maritime goldfields, maritime or seaside goldfields, seaside goldfields
common goldfields, needle goldfields
usually prostrate or decumbent, rarely erect, branched proximally, glabrous or hairy at nodes and distally.
erect or decumbent, usually branched distally (sometimes proximally in desert forms), ± hairy (more so distally).
linear to oblanceolate, 10–90 × 2–12 mm, (fleshy) margins entire or lobed, faces glabrous.
linear to oblanceolate, 8–40(–70) × 1–3(–6) mm, (± fleshy in coastal forms) margins entire or with 3–5+ teeth, faces ± hairy.
hemispheric, 4–7 mm.
campanulate or hemispheric, 5–10 mm.
conic, muricate, glabrous.
conic, muricate, glabrous.
7–12; (corollas light to golden yellow) laminae oblong, 1–3 mm.
6–13;
laminae oblong, 5–10 mm.
6–14, lanceolate to ovate, hairy (especially at margins and midribs).
(persistent or falling with cypselae) 4–13 (in 1 series), ovate-lanceolate to oblong, ± hairy.
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, ± linear, to 3 mm, glabrous or hairy;
pappi usually of (2–)4(–6) opaque, white (aging to brown), ovate-lanceolate, aristate scales, sometimes 0.
appendages ± oblong, obtuse (style apices ± deltate, glabrous or with apical tufts of hairs and subapical fringes of shorter hairs).
appendages deltate.
= 8.
= 16, 32.
Lasthenia maritima
Lasthenia gracilis
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.)
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.)
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