Pityopsis falcata
Pityopsis
sickle-leaf golden-aster, sickle-leaf silk-grass
grass-leaf goldenasters, silkgrass
erect, sometimes reddish brown, sometimes branched distally, striate, sparsely to densely long-sericeous.
ascending to erect, simple or branched, usually moderately to densely appressed silky-sericeous (hairs often anastomosing), rarely glabrate, sometimes stipitate-glandular.
basal usually withering by flowering, shorter than cauline;
cauline spreading to ascending, sessile, blades linear, falcate, often conduplicate, apices acuminate;
proximal 50–90 × 2–7 mm, glabrate to sparsely sericeous;
distal somewhat smaller, glabrate except for margins.
basal and cauline; alternate;
sessile;
blades 3–11-parallel-nerved, linear to lanceolate or ovate, often grasslike (basal shorter or longer than mid, mid larger), margins entire, faces glabrate to densely piloso-sericeous (hairs long, thin, soft, sometimes anastomosing).
sparsely bracteolate, 1–4 cm, white-villous.
turbino-campanulate, 5–8 mm.
turbinate (campanulate upon drying), (4.5–13 ×) 5.5–14 mm.
slightly convex, pitted, epaleate.
9–15;
corolla laminae 5–8 mm.
8–35, pistillate, fertile;
corollas yellow.
30–60;
corollas 4.5–6 mm, sparsely pilose near base of limbs, lobes 0.5 mm, sparsely pilose.
15–60, bisexual, fertile;
corollas yellow, ± ampliate (glabrate, hairs minute and usually only near base of limbs, rarely sparsely to moderately long pilose on much of limbs), tubes shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes 5, erect to spreading, deltate (glabrous or strigose, rarely sparsely long-pilose);
style-branch appendages deltate (papillate).
in 5–6 series, apices with tufts of hairs, faces sparsely strigose.
30–50 in 3–5 series, 1-nerved (midnerves sometimes raised; not keeled), lanceolate, unequal, margins scarious, (darker green zones lens-shaped apically) faces glabrate to silky-pilose and/or densely stipitate-glandular.
(2–)4–10(–25) in corymbiform arrays.
radiate, usually in corymbiform to paniculiform arrays, rarely borne singly.
fusiform, 3–4 mm, ribbed, faces strigose;
pappi: outer of linear setiform scales 0.5–1 mm, inner of 30–40 bristles 4–6 mm.
(often dark) fusiform, sometimes slightly compressed, sometimes slightly falcate, 8–10-ribbed, faces sparsely to densely strigose;
pappi persistent, in (3–)4 series, outer of linear to linear-triangular, barbellate or erose-fimbrillate scales (0.3–1.4 mm, length 5–20% longer inner), inner 2–3 series of 25–50 light tan to light rust, unequal, barbellate, apically attenuate or weakly clavate bristles.
= 9.
= 18.
Pityopsis falcata
Pityopsis
Pityopsis falcata grows on deposits left along the front of the Wisconsin Glaciation. It can be locally abundant in open sandy soils. It was collected once along railroad tracks west of Toronto, Ontario, and also along a beach in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1955.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 7 (7 in the flora).
Pityopsis has been treated historically as a distinct genus or as a section of Chrysopsis (A. Gray 1884) or Heterotheca (L. H. Shinners 1951e). J. C. Semple (1977) and Semple et al. (1980) presented cytologic, morphologic, and anatomic reasons for treating Pityopsis, Chrysopsis, and Heterotheca as separate genera. Semple and F. D. Bowers (1985) monographed the genus; their treatment is followed here. Semple and Bowers (1987) reported on the distribution of ploidy levels within the genus. In a preliminary cladistic study of the Chrysopsidinae, Pityopsis was consistently separate from Chrysopsis and Heterotheca (Semple and L. Tebby 1999). L. Brouillet (pers. comm.) noted that DNA sequence data also indicate that Pityopsis is separate from Chrysopsis and Heterotheca. Semple and J. L. A. Hood (2005) described additional differences among the pappi of Chrysopsis, Heterotheca, and Pityopsis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Basal leaves usually longer than cauline, grasslike, faces sericeous | → 2 |
1. Basal leaves shorter than cauline, mid and distal similar in size, not grasslike or only somewhat so (in P. ruthii), faces sericeous to glabrate | → 4 |
2. Leaves and peduncles (and stems) not densely stipitate-glandular; phyllaries eglandular (except in var. graminifolia) | P. graminifolia |
2. Peduncles and phyllaries moderately to densely stipitate-glandular; distal leaves sometimes stipitate-glandular, especially along margins | → 3 |
3. Cauline leaves 2–6; heads 1–5(–10), involucres 9–11 mm | P. oligantha |
3. Cauline leaves more than 15; heads (4–)10–70, involucres 4.5–8 mm | P. aspera |
4. Peduncles and phyllaries moderately to densely stipitate-glandular; leaf faces silvery-sericeous | P. ruthii |
4. Peduncles and phyllaries not or sparsely, minutely stipitate-glandular; leaf faces sericeous to glabrate | → 5 |
5. Stems flexuous; involucres (7–)8–11 mm, equaling pappi | P. flexuosa |
5. Stems not flexuous; involucres 5–8 mm, usually shorter than pappi | → 6 |
6. Stems glabrous or sparsely piloso-sericeous; cauline leaves linear-filiform | P. pinifolia |
6. Stems sparsely to densely sericeous; cauline leaves broadly to narrowly oblanceolate or linear | → 7 |
7. Cauline leaves linear, usually falcate; sandy coastal areas, New Jersey to Cape Cod | P. falcata |
7. Cauline leaves lanceolate to ovate, not falcate | P. graminifolia |
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