Palafoxia arida
Palafoxia
desert palafox, Spanish needle
palafox
scabrous to nearly glabrous, sometimes distally stipitate-glandular.
erect, branched (mostly distally).
blades lance-linear to linear, 20–120 × 2–55 mm.
cauline; opposite (proximal) or alternate (mostly); petiolate or sessile;
blades (1- or 3-nerved) broadly lanceolate to linear, margins entire, faces sparsely to moderately scabrellous to strigillose or appressed-puberulent (hairs 0.1–0.8+ mm), not gland-dotted.
cylindric to narrowly turbinate.
narrowly cylindric or turbinate to hemispheric, 3–15+ mm diam.
flat, pitted or knobby, epaleate.
0.
0, or 3–13, pistillate, fertile;
corollas white or pinkish to purplish.
9–40;
corollas ± actinomorphic, 9–13 mm, throats ± cylindric, longer than lobes.
12–40(–90), bisexual, fertile;
corollas pinkish to purplish or whitish (glabrous or sparsely hairy, sometimes stipitate-glandular), tubes shorter than cylindric throats or much longer than short, broadly funnelform throats, lobes 5, lance-linear or linear (equal or unequal).
± equal, 10–25 × 1–2.5 mm, ± scabrous, sometimes stipitate-glandular.
persistent or falling (in fruit), 8–14 in 2–3 series (erect in flowering, reflexed in fruit, purplish, or whitish, linear to oblanceolate, subequal or unequal, herbaceous to membranous).
radiate, discoid, disciform, or radiant, in ± corymbiform arrays.
10–16 mm;
pappus scales of inner cypselae 8–12 mm.
obpyramidal, 4-angled, densely to sparsely hairy (hairs straight);
pappi usually persistent, of 4–10 rotund and callous-thickened, or spatulate to subulate, medially thickened, laterally scarious scales in 1–2 series (all, some, or none aristate, all alike or pappi of outer cypselae shorter, rarely 0).
= 12.
= 24.
Palafoxia arida
Palafoxia
Plants of Palafoxia arida 90–150 cm with phyllaries 16–25 mm (from dunes west of Yuma, Arizona) have been treated as var. gigantea. Plants referable to P. arida have been named P. linearis (Cavanilles) Lagasca (including var. gigantea M. E. Jones) in other floras; P. linearis is a Mexican species (see B. L. Turner and M. I. Morris 1976).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 12 (10 in the flora).
Circumscriptions of species adopted here closely follow those of B. L. Turner and M. I. Morris (1976). Some of their circumscriptions, especially those of Palafoxia callosa, P. rosea, and P. texana, merit reconsideration and possibly different interpretations. Their infraspecific taxa are not formally recognized here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Ray florets 3–13 | → 2 |
1. Ray florets 0 (peripheral florets sometimes with enlarged, ± zygomorphic corollas) | → 4 |
2. Leaf blades narrowly lanceolate to linear, 2–6 mm wide; phyllaries 6–8 mm; cypselae 5–6 mm | P. reverchonii |
2. Leaf blades broadly to narrowly lanceolate, 3–25 mm wide; phyllaries 7–16+ mm; cypselae 6–9 mm | → 3 |
3. Stems usually stipitate-glandular ± throughout; phyllaries mostly 3–5 mm wide; ray corollas 10–20 mm, laminae 9–14 mm | P. hookeriana |
3. Stems stipitate-glandular only distally (mainly on peduncles), if at all; phyllaries mostly 1.5–3 mm wide; ray corollas 15–25 mm, laminae 5–8(–12) mm | P. sphacelata |
4. Corolla throats ± cylindric, longer than lobes | → 5 |
4. Corolla throats ± funnelform, shorter than lobes | → 6 |
5. Perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs; leaf blades narrowly elliptic to ovate; phyllaries 5–9 mm; cypselae 6–8 mm | P. feayi |
5. Annuals (rarely persisting); leaf blades narrowly lanceolate to linear; phyllaries 10–25 mm; cypselae 10–16 mm | P. arida |
6. Perennials (rhizomatous); phyllaries unequal (outer shorter) | P. integrifolia |
6. Annuals (rarely persisting, becoming ± shrubby, not rhizomatous); phyllaries ± equal | → 7 |
7. Involucres ± cylindric; phyllaries 10–15 mm; corollas of outer florets ± zygomorphic | P. riograndensis |
7. Involucres ± turbinate to campanulate; phyllaries 3–10 mm; corollas of all florets ± actinomorphic | → 8 |
8. Phyllaries 3–5 mm; corollas 5–6 mm; pappus scales mostly 0.3–1 mm | P. callosa |
8. Phyllaries 5–10 mm; corollas 7–10 mm; pappus scales (1.5–)3–8 mm | → 9 |
9. Leaf blades narrowly lanceolate to linear, 2–6(–12) mm wide; phyllar-ies usually stipitate-glandular | P. rosea |
9. Leaf blades mostly lanceolate, (5–)10–20 mm wide; phyllaries rarely stipitate-glandular | P. texana |
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