Stephanomeria pauciflora
Stephanomeria virgata
brownplume wirelettuce, few-flower wirelettuce, prairie skeletonplant, wire-lettuce
rod wirelettuce, tall wirelettuce, twiggy wreath plant, virgate wirelettuce, wand wirelettuce
1–5+, divaricately and intricately branched (often forming dense bushes), usually glabrous, rarely tomentose.
single, branches virgate, usually glabrous, rarely tomentose.
withered at flowering;
basal blades linear-lanceolate, runcinate, 3–7 cm, margins pinnately lobed (faces glabrous);
cauline much reduced and bractlike.
withered at flowering;
basal blades oblanceolate to spatulate, runcinate, 3–10 cm, margins pinnately lobed (faces usually glabrous, rarely tomentose);
cauline much reduced, bractlike.
3–10 mm.
3–10 mm, bracteate.
8–11 mm (phyllaries 4–6, glabrous).
6–8 mm.
5–6.
5–9.
of appressed bractlets.
of appressed or reflexed bractlets.
borne singly along branches.
borne singly or clustered along branches.
tan, 3.5–5 mm, faces tuberculate, grooved;
pappi of 15–20, usually tan, rarely white, bristles (connate in groups of 2–4, bases persistent), plumose on distal 80%.
light tan to dark brown, 2.2–3.6 mm, faces smooth to tuberculate, not grooved;
pappi (falling) of 23–28, white bristles, wholly plumose.
= 16.
= 16.
Stephanomeria pauciflora
Stephanomeria virgata
Stephanomeria pauciflora generally grows as an intricately branched, often rounded bush. Occasional plants, usually from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and southern Utah, have long, flexuous stems and branches, an architecture that resembles one of the typical forms of S. tenuifolia. Some plants of S. pauciflora have white pappi, also typical of S. tenuifolia. It is not known if these plants represent uncommon and unusual individuals or if they are from populations in which all plants have those traits. It is also not known whether such plants of S. pauciflora grow near populations of S. tenuifolia; if so, they may result from interspecific hybridization. That is a possibility; experimental hybrid plants produced by crossing individuals from the two species were about 20% fertile. Such fertility suggests the species are sufficiently compatible that fully fertile segregants with variously intermediate morphologies could be expected where they hybridize in nature. The experimental crosses were made reciprocally between S. pauciflora from Riverside County, California (L. D. Gottlieb 6653), and S. tenuifolia from Wheeler County, Oregon (L. D. Gottlieb 6692); specimens of the six F1 hybrid plants that were produced are deposited at DAV. Plants of S. pauciflora that are densely tomentose throughout are occasionally found, particularly in the deserts of California and Nevada, and have been named S. cinerea or S. pauciflora var. parishii.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
The two subspecies of Stephanomeria virgata are often sympatric in southern California. Hybrids are found frequently.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Bractlets of calyculi reflexed; florets 8–9 | subsp. virgata |
1. Bractlets of calyculi appressed; florets 5–6 | subsp. pleurocarpa |
CA
KS Wildflowers
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
