Flora of North America species comparison

decumbent, ascending, or erect, sparsely leafy with few stems to very leafy and bushy branched, leafy primarily in proximal 1/5 to throughout, 1–1.3 dm, basally minutely puberulent in 2 lines, sparsely or densely spreading-hirsute, or rarely glabrate or glabrous; distally minutely puberulent in 2 lines, sparsely or densely spreading-hirsute, or rarely glabrate or glabrous, usually glandular-puberulent or pubescent in inflorescence.

strongly ascending to spreading at 5–80°;

petiole 0–1.5 cm;

blade green to blue-gray and glaucous, linear to linear-lanceolate, rarely lanceolate, 3–11.5 × 0.1–1(–1.8) cm, thin to fleshy, thick, and succulent, base long attenuate or narrowly acute, apex acutely tapered to rounded, surfaces glabrous, glandular-pubescent, or hirsute.

axillary and terminal, when axillary, consisting of single involucres or short branches, when terminal with ± well-defined central axis and shorter side branches, or narrowly to widely forked without main axis;

peduncle 3–10 mm, usually spreading glandular-puberulent or pilose, crosswalls of hairs pale or dark;

involucres pale green, sometimes tinged with purple, narrowly to widely bell-shaped, 3–6 mm in flower, 4–10(–15) mm in fruit, spreading viscid-pubescent to hirsute, 40–70% connate, lobes ovate.

3 per involucre;

perianth white to purple-pink, 0.7–1.1 cm.

olive brown or dark olive brown, narrowly obovate and tapering at both ends to obovoid, 3.1–5.5 mm, pubescent with spreading crinkled hairs in tufts or ± evenly distributed, hairs 0.1–0.5 mm;

ribs sometimes slightly paler, slightly elevated above surface (usually less than 0.5 times as wide as high), low rounded to round-angled, 0.5–1 times width of sulci, 0.3–1 times as wide as high, smooth throughout or sometimes rugose on sides, occasionally interrupted and tuberculate near apex;

sulci with small or rarely large tubercles, or low and inconspicuous or occasionally high and prominently cross-rugose.