|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange|
|TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993)||
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Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY
Annual to tree
Leaves basal or cauline, alternate to whorled, simple to compound
Inflorescence: 1° inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower, 1many, generally arrayed in cymes, generally subtended by ± calyx-like involucre; flowers 1many per head
Flowers bisexual, unisexual, or sterile, ± small, of several types; calyx 0 or modified into pappus of bristles, scales, or awns, which is generally persistent in fruit; corolla radial or bilateral (rarely 0), lobes generally (0)45; stamens 45, anthers generally fused into cylinder around style, often appendaged at tips, bases, or both, filaments generally free, generally attached to corolla near throat; pistil 1, ovary inferior, 1-chambered, 1-seeded, style 1, branches 2, generally hair-tufted at tip, stigmas 2, generally on inside of style branches
Fruit: achene, cylindric to ovoid, generally deciduous with pappus attached
Genera in family: ± 1300 genera, 21,000 species (largest family of dicots): worldwide. Largest family in CA. Also see tribal key to CA genera: Strother 1997 Madroño 44(1):128. See glossary p. 25 for illustrations of general family characteristics.
Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Greek: mountain Chaenactis )
Annual 125 cm, short-hairy to ± tomentose and glandular
Stems spreading to erect, simple or ± branched, very slender
Leaves opposite below, alternate above, simple, 14 cm, linear to narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, entire
Inflorescence: heads discoid, very small, sessile in small, leafy-bracted clusters at stem tips; involucre cylindric; phyllaries 47 in 1 series, 36 mm, free, oblong, ± purple; receptacle naked
Flowers 49; corollas 35 mm, yellow, lobes short-triangular; anther tips short-triangular; style tips tapered
Fruit 2.54 mm, club-shaped, ribbed, minutely puberulent; pappus of 1117 scales, 1.52.5 mm, oblanceolate, obtuse, fringed, deciduous together in a ring
Ecology: Open forests, dry meadows, gravelly slopes
Elevation: 22003800 m.
Bioregional distribution: s High Sierra Nevada.