Senecio mohavensis |
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Mohave groundsel, Mojave ragwort |
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Habit | Annuals, 10–30(–40) cm (taproots often twisted). |
Herbage | (sometimes purple-tinged) glabrous. |
Stems | usually 1 (freely branching upward). |
Leaves | equally distributed; petiolate; blades ovate to obovate, 2–6 × 0.5–2(–4) cm, bases tapered, margins coarsely lobed or irregularly dentate (mid and distal leaves similar, bases expanded, truncate to cordate, clasping, 1–2 cm across). |
Ray florets | 0 or 1–3+; corolla laminae 0.1–1 mm (little expanded, barely, if at all, surpassing phyllaries; sometimes laminae 0 and heads perhaps technically disciform). |
Phyllaries | ± 8 or ± 13, 6–7 mm, tips green. |
Calyculi | of 3–5+ lance-linear bractlets. |
Heads | 3–10 in loose, cymiform arrays. |
Cypselae | hairy. |
2n | = 40. |
Senecio mohavensis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Sandy or rocky washes, desert flats |
Elevation | 100–700 m (300–2300 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; Mexico (Sonora)
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Discussion | Senecio mohavensis is similar to S. flavus (Decaisne) Schultz-Bipontinus of the Mediterranean region and southwest Asia, which raises phytogeographic questions (cf. A. Liston et al. 1989; Liston and J. W. Kadereit 1995; M. Coleman et al. 2001). The last cited study showed that a previously recognized variety of S. flavus is more closely related to S. mohavensis than to S. flavus and a new combination was made: S. mohavensis subsp. brevifolius (Kadereit) M. Coleman. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 563. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Senecio |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Torrey & A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1(2): 446. (1884) |
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