Flora of North America species comparison

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Psilocarphus brevissimus

Psilocarphus chilensis

dwarf woolly-heads, dwarf woolly-marbles, Robbin's pondweed, short woollyheads, woolly marbles

round woolly-marbles, slender woollyheads
Habit Plants greenish to grayish, sericeous to densely lanuginose. Plants mostly greenish, thinly arachnoid-sericeous (in coastal forms grayish to whitish, ± lanuginose).
Stems

(1–)2–10, erect to prostrate;

proximal internode lengths mostly 0.5–1.5(–2) times leaf lengths.

mostly (1–)2–7, ascending to ± prostrate;

proximal internode lengths (2–)3–6 times leaf lengths.
Receptacles

unlobed or ± lobed.

unlobed.
Heads

± spheric, rarely ovoid, largest 6–14 mm.

± spheric, largest 3–5.5 mm.
Cypselae

narrowly obovoid, ± compressed, 0.8–1.9 mm.

narrowly obovoid, somewhat compressed, 0.6–1.2 mm.
Capitular

leaves ± erect, appressed to heads (sometimes spreading), linear-lanceolate to ovate, widest in proximal 2/3, longest 8–25 mm, lengths mostly 1.5–6 times widths, 1–2.5(–3) times head heights.

leaves erect to incurved, appressed to heads, ovate to broadly elliptic, widest in proximal 2/3, longest 5–12 mm, lengths mostly 1.2–1.8(–2) times widths, 1–2(–2.5) times head heights.
Pistillate

paleae hidden by or visible through indument, longest 2.8–4 mm (lengths 1.5–6 times longest diams.; wings subapical to ± median).

paleae usually individually visible through indument, longest mostly 1.5–2.7 mm.
Staminate

corollas 0.8–1.6 mm, lobes mostly 5.

corollas 0.8–1.3 mm, lobes mostly 4.
2n

= 28.

Psilocarphus brevissimus

Psilocarphus chilensis
Phenology Flowering and fruiting mid Mar–early Jul.
Habitat Saturated to drying vernal pool margins, seasonally inundated sites, coastal interdune areas
Elevation 0–600 m (0–2000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK; s South America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; South America (Chile)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Psilocarphus chilensis occurs mainly in west-central California and central Chile; one recent collection is from southern California (western Riverside County). Ecotypes from coastal interdune areas are more lanuginose with shorter stems and internodes than intergrading populations farther inland; they are indistinguishable from the type of Micropus globiferus from Chile (J. D. Morefield 1992d). Psilocarphus chilensis and P. tenellus are at least as distinct as the other species of Psilocarphus; contrary to suggestions by A. Cronquist (1950), intermediates between the two are at most very uncommon.

Psilocarphus berteri I. M. Johnston is a superfluous name for P. chilensis. I. M. Johnston (1938) erroneously applied P. chilensis to a species not including the type of Micropus globiferus; such plants are here included in P. brevissimus var. brevissimus.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Heads ± spheric, largest 6–9 mm, receptacles unlobed or shallowly lobed; pistillate paleae obovoid, lengths 1.5–3 times longest diams., wings supramedian to subapical
var. brevissimus
1. Heads ovoid, largest 9–14 mm, receptacles deeply lobed; pistillate paleae ± cylindric, lengths mostly 3.5–6 times longest diams., wings ± median
var. multiflorus
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 458. FNA vol. 19, p. 459.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Psilocarphus Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Psilocarphus
Sibling taxa
P. chilensis, P. elatior, P. oregonus, P. tenellus
P. brevissimus, P. elatior, P. oregonus, P. tenellus
Subordinate taxa
P. brevissimus var. brevissimus, P. brevissimus var. multiflorus
Synonyms Micropus globiferus, P. tenellus var. globiferus, P. tenellus var. tenuis
Name authority Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 340. (1840) A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 1: 448. (1886)
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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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