Psorothamnus thompsoniae |
Psorothamnus spinosus |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thompson's dalea |
smoke tree |
|||||
Habit | Shrubs. | Trees, small, rounded, appearing shrublike when young. | ||||
Stems | 4–9(–15) dm, gland-dotted when young, silky-pilosulous, hairs retrorse. |
70(–100) dm, gland-dotted distally when young, glands orange, silvery-silky to glabrate. |
||||
Branches | divaricate; sterile shoots sharp-tipped. |
divergent; sterile shoots sharp-tipped or thornlike. |
||||
Leaves | pinnate, (1–)1.4–3 cm; leaflets 7–17(or 19), blades obovate, oblanceolate, linear-oblanceolate, or linear-oblong, 2–7 mm, terminal leaflet shorter than laterals, surfaces sparsely gland-dotted abaxially, strigulose, more strongly so adaxially. |
unifoliolate, 0.2–2.2 cm, leaflet 1, blade oblanceolate or cuneate-oblanceolate, surfaces gland-tipped abaxially, strigulose. |
||||
Racemes | loose and open; rachis not spine-tipped in anthesis, (1–)2–9 cm; bracts ovate-elliptic, 0.6–1.5 mm; bracteoles absent. |
loose; rachis with thornlike tip in anthesis, 1–4 cm; bracts ovate, 0.5–8 mm; bracteoles present. |
||||
Flowers | calyx 3.7–5 mm, pilosulous throughout, or tube glabrous, lobes pilosulous, tube 2.4–3.3 mm, ribs prominent, intervals each with 1–4 large glands, lobes ovate to oblong-ovate, abaxial lobe shorter; corolla pink- to violet-purple; banner (5.5–)6–8.4 mm, ovate to suborbiculate, base cuneate or cordate, claw linear; wings oblong, 5.8–6.6 × 2.6–3.2 mm; keel obovate, 5.6–6.7 × 3.4–3.8 mm; stamens 6–7.7 mm; filaments distinct to 2.5–3.5 mm; anthers 0.8–0.9 mm, connective gland-tipped. |
calyx 4.5–5.2 mm, silky-strigulose, tube 3–3.8 mm, ribs not prominent, intervals each with (0 or)1(or 2) large glands, lobes ovate, abaxial lobe shorter; corolla indigo-blue; banner obcordate, 6.4–7.5 mm, base auriculate, claw linear to cuneate; wings broadly oblanceolate, 5.5–6.8 × (2.4–)3–4.5 mm; keel obovate, 6.6–8.2 × 4.2–5.4 mm; stamens 9.5–11.5 mm; filaments distinct to 4.1–4.9 mm; anthers 0.7–1.1 mm, connective gland-tipped. |
||||
Legumes | obliquely obovoid, 4–4.5 mm, with large glands distally, glabrous proximally, sparsely pilosulous distally. |
obovoid, 3–4 mm, with several glands proximally, pilosulous distally. |
||||
Seeds | 2.1–2.6 mm. |
rarely 2, 3 mm. |
||||
Psorothamnus thompsoniae |
Psorothamnus spinosus |
|||||
Phenology | Flowering late spring–mid summer (fall). | |||||
Habitat | Rocky or sandy deserts, wetter areas. | |||||
Elevation | -70–400 m. (-200–1300 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
sw United States |
AZ; CA; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
|
||||
Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Leaves of Psorothamnus spinosus are not retained for long; most of the time, the tree crown consists of a rounded mass of silvery branches. In California, P. spinosus is known from the desert areas in the southeastern part of the state. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Parosela thompsoniae | Dalea spinosa | ||||
Name authority | (Vail) S. L. Welsh & N. D. Atwood: Great Basin Naturalist 35: 354. (1976) — (as thompsonae) | (A. Gray) Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 27: 25. (1977) | ||||
Web links |