Flora of North America species comparison

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Madia sativa

Chile tarplant, Chile tarweed, Chilean tarplant, Chilean tarweed, coast tarweed, coastal tarweed
Habit Plants (0.3–)35–100(–240) cm, self-compatible (heads not showy).
Stems

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

blades broadly lanceolate to linear-oblong or linear, 2–18 cm × 3–18(–29) mm.
Involucres

ovoid to urceolate, 6–16 mm.
Ray florets

(5–)8–13;

corollas greenish yellow or sometimes purplish red abaxially or throughout, laminae 1.5–4 mm.
Disc florets

11–14, bisexual, fertile;

corollas 2–5 mm, pubescent;

anthers ± dark purple.
Phyllaries

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

in usually crowded, paniculiform, racemiform, or spiciform arrays.
Disc cypselae

similar.
Ray cypselae

black or brown, sometimes mottled, dull, compressed, beakless.
Paleae

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

= 32.

Madia sativa
Phenology Flowering May–Oct.
Habitat Grasslands, openings in shrublands and woods, disturbed sites, stream banks, roadsides
Elevation 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC; South America (Argentina, Chile) [Pacific Islands (Hawaii, probably introduced)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In North America, Madia sativa occurs on the Pacific Coast from California to British Columbia, sporadically in coastal ranges, and rarely eastward. Reports of M. sativa from Ontario and Quebec and from Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin are putative waifs or misidentified M. glomerata. Molecular data and greenhouse studies have indicated that plants referable to M. capitata and M. sativa in California are not distinct (B. G. Baldwin, unpubl.). Sampled populations of M. sativa (including M. capitata) from California are somewhat divergent in DNA sequences from sampled Chilean populations, in apparent conflict with earlier suggestions that M. sativa was recently introduced to North America from South America by Europeans (Baldwin, unpubl.). Madia sativa has been cultivated for seed-oil in South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia Minor (E. Zardini 1992).

(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. gracilis, M. radiata, M. subspicata
Synonyms M. capitata
Name authority Molina: Sag. Stor. Nat. Chili, 136. (1782)
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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