Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Madia exigua

Madia anomala

little tarplant, little tarweed, small tarweed, thread-stem madia

plumpseed madia, tarweed
Habit Plants 1–30(–50) cm, self-compatible (heads not showy). Plants (10–)20–55 cm, self-compatible (heads not showy).
Stems

hirsute and glandular-pubescent, glands yellowish or purple, lateral branches seldom surpassing main stems.

hirsute, distally glandular-pubescent, glands yellowish, purple, or black, lateral branches rarely surpassing main stems.
Leaf

blades linear, 0.2–4 cm × 0.5–2 mm.

blades linear, 2–10 cm × 2–7 mm.
Involucres

depressed-globose, 2.5–5 mm.

globose or depressed-globose, 6–10 mm.
Ray florets

1–8;

corollas pale yellow, laminae 0.7–1 mm.

3–8;

corollas greenish yellow, laminae 3–4.5 mm.
Disc florets

1(–2), bisexual, fertile;

corollas 1–1.8 mm, glabrous;

anthers yellow to brownish.

3–8, bisexual, fertile;

corollas 3.5–4 mm, pubescent;

anthers ± dark purple.
Phyllaries

± hirsute and glandular-pubescent as well, glands golden yellow, apices ± erect, sulcate.

hirsute and glandular-pubescent, glands yellowish, purple, or black, apices erect or ± reflexed, flat.
Heads

in open, corymbiform arrays (peduncles ± filiform).

in open, racemiform or paniculiform arrays.
Disc cypselae

obovoid, weakly compressed.

similar.
Ray cypselae

black or brown, dull, compressed (strongly arcuate), beaked (beaks adaxially offset, curved).

black or purple, glossy, ± terete, beakless.
Paleae

mostly persistent, connate 1/2+ their lengths.

mostly persistent, connate 1/4–1/2+ their lengths.
2n

= 32.

= 32.

Madia exigua

Madia anomala
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul. Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Openings in grasslands, meadows, shrublands, woodlands, and forests, disturbed sites, often sandy, gravelly, or clayey soils, sometimes serpentine Open, often grassy slopes in woodlands and chaparral
Elevation 30–2500 m (100–8200 ft) 0–500 m (0–1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Madia exigua occurs in seasonally dry situations in much of western North America outside the warm deserts. Morphologically, M. exigua is somewhat similar to Hemizonella minima, which (unlike M. exigua) has subumbellate arrays of heads and obcompressed, sparsely hairy ray cypselae.

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

Madia anomala occurs locally in the North Coast Ranges, San Francisco Bay area, and Sutter Buttes (southern Sacramento Valley), sometimes with the morphologically similar M. gracilis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 306. FNA vol. 21, p. 307.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Madiinae > Madia Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Madiinae > Madia
Sibling taxa
M. anomala, M. citrigracilis, M. citriodora, M. elegans, M. glomerata, M. gracilis, M. radiata, M. sativa, M. subspicata
M. citrigracilis, M. citriodora, M. elegans, M. exigua, M. glomerata, M. gracilis, M. radiata, M. sativa, M. subspicata
Synonyms Sclerocarpus exigua
Name authority (Smith) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 391. (1872) Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 91. (1885)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers