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chinchweed, common chinchweed, manybristle chinchweed

Photo is of parent taxon

chinch-weed, manybristle chinchweed

Habit Annuals, 1–30 cm (often forming rounded bushes); herbage spicy-scented. Plants 1–20 cm.
Stems

ascending, glabrous or puberulent.

Leaves

linear, 10–60 × 1–2 mm, margins with 1–3 pairs of setae, faces glabrous (dotted on margins with round to oval oil-glands 0.3–0.5 mm).

10–30 mm.

Peduncles

3–40 mm.

3–10(–25) mm.

Involucres

campanulate to cylindric.

Ray florets/Ray corollas

(7–)8(–10);

corollas 3–8 mm.

3–6 mm.

Disc florets

6–34;

corollas 2–5.5 mm (weakly 2-lipped, glabrous or glandular-puberulent).

6–14(–18);

corollas 2–3.5(–4) mm.

Phyllaries

distinct, linear, 3–8 × 0.5–1.7 mm (dotted with 1–5 subterminal oil-glands plus 2–5 pairs of submarginal oil-glands).

3–5 mm.

Heads

in congested or open, cymiform arrays.

Cypselae

2–5.5 mm, strigillose to short-pilose (hair tips curled, bulbous);

ray pappi usually coroniform, rarely of 1+ awns or bristles 1–4 mm;

disc pappi usually of 16–24, subplumose bristles 1.5–4 mm, rarely coroniform.

2–4.5 mm;

disc pappi 1–2.5 mm.

2n

= 24.

Pectis papposa

Pectis papposa var. papposa

Phenology Flowering Jun–Dec.
Habitat Deserts, desert grasslands, dry woodlands, roadsides
Elevation -60–1500 m (-200–4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Pectis papposa generally flowers following summer monsoon rains in the desert of southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In favorable years, it becomes an aspect dominant, coloring wide areas of the desert with its bright yellow heads.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Variety papposa is widely distributed in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts and reaches the western fringes of the Chihuahuan Desert in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, where it intergrades with var. grandis in some localities.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Phyllaries 3–5 mm; disc florets 6–14(–18); disc pappi 1–2.5 mm
var. papposa
1. Phyllaries 5–8 mm; disc florets 12–24(–34); disc pappi 2.5–4 mm
var. grandis
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 227. FNA vol. 21, p. 228.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Pectidinae > Pectis Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Pectidinae > Pectis > Pectis papposa
Sibling taxa
P. angustifolia, P. cylindrica, P. filipes, P. glaucescens, P. humifusa, P. imberbis, P. linearifolia, P. linifolia, P. longipes, P. prostrata, P. rusbyi, P. ×floridana
P. papposa var. grandis
Subordinate taxa
P. papposa var. grandis, P. papposa var. papposa
Name authority Harvey & A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 62. (1849) unknown
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