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San Francisco owl's-clover

Stems

simple or with 1–15 ascending branches proximally, 6–24(–30) cm, glabrous proximally, sparsely retrorsely short-strigose distally.

Leaves

glabrous or sparsely puberulent;

proximal cauline: blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 6–14 mm;

cauline: blade ± ovate, 10–56 mm, base sessile, margins pinnatifid, rarely bipinnatifid, lateral lobes 4–8.

Pedicels

0–0.3 mm, glabrous.

Flowers

calyx 4–6 mm, glabrous, tube 2–4 mm, lobes triangular to narrowly lanceolate, 1.3–2 × 0.8–1 mm;

corolla creamy white, rarely pale yellow, 6–14 mm, glabrous, beak light green or white, not hooked, abaxial lobes spreading, 1.5–3 mm, throat abruptly indented, forming a fold under abaxial corolla lip, adaxial lobes projecting;

stamens exserted, pollen sac yellow, 1.3–1.5 mm, glabrous, dehiscing longitudinally;

style 5.5–6 mm, glabrous;

stigma capitate.

Capsules

4.5–6.5 × 3–3.5 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

20–35, ovoid, 0.6–1.3 mm.

Spikelike

racemes interrupted, dense distally, 1–5.5 cm;

peduncle absent;

bracts pinnatifid, ± ovate, 4–12 mm, lateral lobes 2–6.

2n

= 22.

Triphysaria floribunda

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Coastal or valley grasslands, grassy and rocky hills, sandy soils, road edges, coastal scrub, serpentine slopes.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Triphysaria floribunda is known from the San Francisco Bay area. The species is threatened by grazing, non-native plants, and trampling (California Native Plant Society, http://www.rareplants.cnps.org); only 14 of the 150 specimens for T. floribunda in the California Consortium of Herbaria portal (http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/consortium) were collected after 1971.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 686.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Triphysaria
Sibling taxa
T. eriantha, T. micrantha, T. pusilla, T. versicolor
Synonyms Orthocarpus floribundus
Name authority (Bentham) T. I. Chuang & Heckard: Syst. Bot. 16: 660. (1991)
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