Madia gracilis
Madia elegans
common tarweed, grassy tarplant, grassy tarweed, gumweed, slender tarweed
autumn showy tarweed, common madia, showy tarweed
proximally pilose to hirsute, distally glandular-pubescent, glands yelloish, purple, or black, lateral branches seldom surpassing main stems.
proximally villous to hirsute, distally glandular-pubescent, glands yellowish, purple, or black, lateral branches sometimes surpassing main stems.
blades oblong to linear, 1–10(–15) cm × 1–8(–10) mm.
blades lanceolate to linear, 3–20 cm × 2–20 mm.
depressed-globose to urceolate, 5–10 mm.
± globose to campanulate, 4.5–12 mm.
3–10;
corollas lemon yellow or greenish yellow, laminae 1.5–8 mm.
(2–)5–22;
corollas bright yellow (sometimes with maroon bases), laminae 4–20 mm.
2–16+, bisexual, fertile;
corollas 2.5–5 mm, pubescent;
anthers ± dark purple.
25–80+, functionally staminate;
corollas 2.5–5 mm, pubescent;
anthers yellow to brownish or ± dark purple.
sometimes hirsute, always finely or coarsely glandular-pubescent, glands yellowish, purple, or black, apices erect or ± reflexed, flat.
± hirsute or villous, usually glandular-pubescent as well, glands yellowish, purple, or black, apices erect or reflexed, flat.
in ± open, paniculiform or racemiform arrays.
in open, corymbiform arrays.
similar.
0.
black, purple, or mottled, dull, compressed, beakless (or nearly so).
black or brown, sometimes mottled, dull, compressed or ± 3-angled (slightly rounded abaxially, angled 15–45° adaxially), beakless (or nearly so).
mostly persistent, connate 1/2+ their lengths.
mostly persistent, mostly connate 1/2+ their lengths.
= 32, 48.
= 16.
Madia gracilis
Madia elegans
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.)
Madia elegans occurs widely in California outside the deserts and in southwestern Oregon and locally in western Nevada and Washington. It is unusually variable in morphology, ecology, and phenology. Molecular data have indicated that D. D. Keck’s (1959) infraspecific taxonomy for M. elegans needs revision. Putative natural (sterile) hybrids with M. sativa have been collected (e.g., D. D. Keck 2647, UC, from northern California).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
