Lygodesmia texana
Texas skeletonplant
erect, green, stout, branched from bases and distally, weakly striate, glabrous.
(basal forming rosettes, sometimes withering before flowering) proximal blades linear, 100–200 × 1–8 mm, margins of usually pinnately laciniately lobed, lobes remote and narrow, 1–15 mm;
cauline similar, 5–10 mm, reduced to scales distally.
cylindric, 18–25 mm × 5–8 mm, apices narrow.
8–12;
corollas usually pink, purple, or lavender, rarely white, 35–40 mm, ligules 5–6 mm wide.
8–10, linear, 18–26 mm, margins scarious, apices appendaged, faces glabrous or tomentulose.
of 8–10, ovate bractlets 1–3 mm, margins ciliate-tomentulose.
borne singly.
11–17 mm, faces smooth, adaxial not sulcate, glabrous;
pappi 10–15 mm.
= 18.
Lygodesmia texana
Lygodesmia texana is easily distinguished by its laciniate-lobed basal leaves that form rosettes in younger stages, relatively large involucres and florets, phyllaries with an apical appendage, and smooth cypselae. It is closely related to L. aphylla, which has a more eastern distribution, lacks laciniate leaves in rosettes, and has sulcate cypselae. Lygodesmia texana apparently hybridizes with L. ramossisima in trans-Pecos Texas, and the two species can be difficult to distinguish (A. S. Tomb 1980).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
