Flora of North America species comparison

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Madia gracilis

common tarweed, grassy tarplant, grassy tarweed, gumweed, slender tarweed
Habit Plants 6–100 cm, self-compatible (heads not showy).
Stems

proximally pilose to hirsute, distally glandular-pubescent, glands yelloish, purple, or black, lateral branches seldom surpassing main stems.
Leaf

blades oblong to linear, 1–10(–15) cm × 1–8(–10) mm.
Involucres

depressed-globose to urceolate, 5–10 mm.
Ray florets

3–10;

corollas lemon yellow or greenish yellow, laminae 1.5–8 mm.
Disc florets

2–16+, bisexual, fertile;

corollas 2.5–5 mm, pubescent;

anthers ± dark purple.
Phyllaries

sometimes hirsute, always finely or coarsely glandular-pubescent, glands yellowish, purple, or black, apices erect or ± reflexed, flat.
Heads

in ± open, paniculiform or racemiform arrays.
Disc cypselae

similar.
Ray cypselae

black, purple, or mottled, dull, compressed, beakless (or nearly so).
Paleae

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

= 32, 48.

Madia gracilis
Phenology Flowering Apr–Aug.
Habitat Open or partially shaded slopes or flats in grasslands, meadows, shrublands, woodlands, and forests, disturbed sites, stream banks, roadsides, coarse to fine textured soils, sometimes serpentine
Elevation 0–2500 m (0–8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Madia gracilis occurs widely in California (except the warm deserts), is scattered across much of Nevada, Oregon, and Washington (outside the driest regions), and extends into southernmost British Columbia, north-western Montana, and northern Utah. Near the coast, M. gracilis sometimes co-occurs with M. sativa; the two species are partially interfertile (M. gracilis tends to flower earlier than M. sativa; J. Clausen 1951). Reported occurrences of M. gracilis in Maine and South America have not been confirmed.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 308.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Madiinae > Madia
Sibling taxa
M. anomala, M. citrigracilis, M. citriodora, M. elegans, M. exigua, M. glomerata, M. radiata, M. sativa, M. subspicata
Synonyms Sclerocarpus gracilis, M. gracilis subsp. collina, M. gracilis subsp. pilosa
Name authority (Smith) D. D. Keck: Madroño 5: 169. (1940)
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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