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goldenweed, gumweed aster, rayless tansyaster

sleepy-daisy

Habit Subshrubs, 3–35 cm (tufted or densely cespitose, often mound-forming); caudices much branched, taproot 2–20+ cm. Annuals, biennials, perennials, or subshrubs, 3–100 cm (taprooted, caudices woody, much branched [rhizomes]).
Stems

10–30+, simple or branched in distal 1/3, moderately stout to stout, not wiry, hairy or minutely stipitate-glandular.

erect, spreading, or sprawling, often much branched, glabrous or hispid to hispidulous, villous, or stipitate-glandular (especially distally).

Leaves

basal often persistent;

cauline evenly spaced, blades oblong, obovate, lanceolate to spatulate or narrowly ovate to obovate, 7–60 × 2–13 mm, gradually reduced distally, margins usually evenly coarsely serrate to serrulate, teeth 4–16 per side, each tipped with white bristle 0.5–4 mm, faces sparsely to densely hairy (hairs subappressed), often minutely stipitate-glandular.

basal (sometimes persistent) and cauline; short-petiolate or sessile;

blades 1-nerved, lanceolate to oblanceolate or spatulate (bases tapering to clasping), margins entire, serrate, dentate, pinnatifid, or 2-pinnatifid (apices of blades, lobes, and teeth apiculate to bristle-tipped, bristles 1–4 mm), faces usually glabrous, hispid, hispidulous, or villous, sometimes also stipitate-glandular.

Peduncles

sparsely to densely hairy, often stipitate-glandular;

sometimes bracteate.

Involucres

hemispheric to campanulate, 0.5–1 × 0.6–1.5 cm.

turbinate, campanulate, or hemispheric, (4–10 ×) 6–25 mm.

Receptacles

flat to convex, pitted (pit borders usually laciniate or irregularly bristly, the teeth or setae 0.1–2+ mm), epaleate.

Ray florets

0.

0 (in X. grindelioides and 2 Mexican taxa) or 12–60+, pistillate, fertile;

corollas white, pink, red-purple, purple, or yellow.

Disc florets

15–50+;

corollas 5–8.5 mm.

15–200+, bisexual, fertile;

corollas yellow, tubes length 1/4–1/3 ± funnelform throats (usually glabrous), lobes 5, spreading, triangular (glabrous or sparsely puberulent, hairs fine, antrorse);

style-branch appendages lanceolate.

Phyllaries

in 3–5 series, oblong to broadly lanceolate, 2–9 mm, apices obtuse to acute, tipped by white seta, faces usually densely stipitate-glandular.

26–80+ in 2–8 series, appressed, spreading, or reflexed, 1-nerved (flat to rounded), linear to narrowly oblong or lanceolate, or enlarged distally into ovate to orbiculate or depressed-elliptic laminae, unequal, stiff, leathery, bases indurate, margins sometimes scarious, (apices herbaceous or achlorophyllous) faces hispid to hispidulous, villous, and/or stipitate-glandular.

Heads

1–10+.

radiate or discoid, borne singly or in corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

oblong to narrowly obovoid, 2–3.5 mm, ribs 12–24, densely whitish to tawny hairy;

pappi whitish to tawny, 3–7 mm, a few abaxial bristles to 1/3 of longest.

distinctly dimorphic (tan to red-brown or purple), ellipsoid to obovoid, oblong, or obscurely cordate, those of rays (if present) ± 3-sided, rounded abaxially, of disc compressed (thin or thick walled), 6–18-ribbed, faces silky (hairs antrorsely ascending to appressed);

pappi persistent, of 30–90+ usually whitish to brown or reddish brown, basally flattened (wider at overlapping bases), coarsely barbellate, apically attenuate bristles in 2–4 series.

x

= (2, 3, 4) 5.

Xanthisma grindelioides

Xanthisma

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; SD; UT; WY; AB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w North America; Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Species 17 (9 in the flora).

As here circumscribed, Xanthisma includes four sections of Machaeranthera in the sense of R. L. Hartman 1990: Blepharodon, Sideranthus, Havardii, and Stenoloba. The last section, consisting of a single Mexican species, is treated here as a synonym of sect. Sideranthus. This grouping is well supported by molecular data (D. R. Morgan 1993, 1997, 2003; Morgan and Hartman 2003; Morgan and B. B. Simpson 1992). Although Xanthisma includes species with both cyanic (blue, purple, pink, or white) and yellow rays, several morphologic characteristics are shared by its members, including short, turbinate, thick-walled fruits that are moderately to densely silky, receptacular scales, leaves with marginal spines, and chromosome numbers based on x = 4 or 5, with a descending dysploid series in one taxon. Many of these species have, in fact, been grouped together at the generic or sectional level by earlier authors such as E. L. Greene (1894b), H. M. Hall (1928), L. H. Shinners (1950b), A. Cronquist and D. D. Keck (1957), J. C. Semple (1974), and Hartman (1976, 1990). The following key is based largely on data from Hartman (1976, 1990) and Semple.

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

Key
1. Plants tufted, 10–35 cm; leaves evenly distributed along stems, margins usually ciliate, sometimes spinulose-dentate, bristles usually 0.5–1.5 mm; heads 1 or often 2–5; peduncles 0.5–2 cm, often bracteate to proximal to heads
var. grindeloides
1. Plants densely cespitose, mostly 3–8 cm; leaves mostly crowded at base of stem, margins conspicuously white-bristled (1.5–)2–4 mm; heads usually 1; peduncles 1–4 cm, usually ebracteate
var. depressum
1. Inner phyllaries (at least) with proximal portion stalklike, abruptly enlarged into ovate to orbiculate or elliptic blade, 2–5 mm wide, apices acuminate to obtuse or broadly rounded, not bristle-tipped (Texas, s Oklahoma, e New Mexico) (sect. Xanthisma)
X. texanum
1. Phyllaries not markedly expanded distally, linear to broadly oblong or lanceolate, 1–2 mm wide, apices narrowly obtuse to long-attenuate, usually bristle-tipped
→ 2
2. Rays white, pink, purple, or lavender, or ray florets 0 (sect. Blepharodon)
→ 3
2. Rays yellow
→ 6
3. Ray florets 0 (n New Mexico and n Arizona to sw Canada)
X. grindelioides
3. Ray florets present
→ 4
4. Plants 2.5–14 cm; stems simple; basal leaves (rosettes) persistent; heads 1; (montane to alpine) Colorado, s Wyoming
X. coloradoense
4. Plants 15–40 cm; stems often branched distally; basal leaves usually withering by flowering; heads 1–10+; s New Mexico, w Texas, n Mexico
→ 5
5. Leaves usually finely or obscurely serrate or serrulate, usually with 12–25 teeth per side; peduncles hispid or hispidulous; s New Mexico, w Texas
X. blephariphyllum
5. Leaves serrate, often coarsely, with 5–14 teeth per side; peduncles stipitate-glandular; se New Mexico and w Texas; n Mexico
X. gypsophilum
6. Annuals, taprooted; leaves serrate to dentate, teeth blunt or terminating in a stiff callosity, not bristle-tipped; phyllary apices obtuse to broadly acute, not bristle-tipped; cypselae oblong or narrowly ellipsoid, 18–22-nerved (barely discernible); se New Mexico, w Texas (sect. Havardii)
X. viscidum
6. Perennials or subshrubs with branched caudices (if taprooted annuals then phyllary apices narrowly acute to acuminate, prominently bristle-tipped); leaves entire, pinnatifid, or deeply 2-pinnatifid, if serrate or dentate, teeth bristle-tipped; cypselae ellipsoid to broadly obovoid, ribs weak yet readily discernible; w North America, Mexico (sect. Sideranthus)
→ 7
7. Annuals, taprooted
X. gracile
7. Perennials or subshrubs, caudices branched, often woody
→ 8
8. Cauline leaves scalelike throughout; peduncle bracts imbricate, grading into phyllaries
X. junceum
8. Cauline leaves not scalelike at least proximal to midstems; peduncle bracts 0–3, leaflike, not grading into phyllaries
X. spinulosum
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 387. FNA vol. 20, p. 383. Author: Ronald L. Hartman.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Xanthisma > sect. Blepharodon Asteraceae > tribe Astereae
Sibling taxa
X. blephariphyllum, X. coloradoense, X. gracile, X. gypsophilum, X. junceum, X. spinulosum, X. texanum, X. viscidum
Subordinate taxa
X. grindelioides var. depressum, X. grindelioides var. grindeloides
X. blephariphyllum, X. coloradoense, X. gracile, X. grindelioides, X. gypsophilum, X. junceum, X. spinulosum, X. texanum, X. viscidum
Synonyms Eriocarpum grindelioides, Haplopappus nuttallii, Machaeranthera grindelioides
Name authority (Nuttall) D. R. Morgan & R. L. Hartman: Sida 20: 1403. (2003) de Candolle: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 5: 94. (1836)
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