Rafinesquia neomexicana
Flowering plant near Amboy, California
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Rafinesquia
Species:
R. neomexicana
Binomial name
Rafinesquia neomexicana

Rafinesquia neomexicana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Common names include desert chicory,[2] plumeseed, or New Mexico plumeseed.[1][3] It has white showy flowers, milky sap, and weak, zigzag stems, that may grow up through other shrubs for support.[2] It is an annual plant (completes its life cycle in a single season) found in dry climate areas of the southwestern deserts of the US and northwestern deserts of Mexico.[2]

Description

The annual plants are gray-green with sparse foliage and are between 15 and 50 centimetres (6 and 19+1⁄2 inches) high.[3] Basal leaves are 5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 in) long and pinnate with narrow lobes while leaves further up the stem are smaller.[3]

White flowerheads appear at the end of the stems between May and June in the species native range.[3]

Flower heads occur singly at the tip of branches.[2] The flower heads are composed of strap-shaped ray flowers, growing longer toward the outer portion of the head, and collectively creating the appearance of a single flower as in other sunflower family plants.[2] The outer flowers in the head extend well beyond the 1.5–2.5 cm (1⁄2–1 in) long phyllaries (bracts enclosing the flower head before opening).[2]

Similar species include R. californica and Calycoseris wrightii.[4]

Distribution and habitat

In the United States the species occurs in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.[1] It occurs in the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora.[5]

It is found in the Mojave Desert, and in the Sonoran Deserts including the Colorado Desert sub-region.

It occurs in sandy or gravelly soils in creosote bush scrub and Joshua Tree woodland plant communities in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert, from California to Texas and northern Mexico.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The PLANTS Database". USDA, NRCS. 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pam Mackay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, 2nd Edition, p135
  3. 1 2 3 4 Spellenberg, R. (1979). Field Guide to North American Wildflowers - Western Region. National Audubon Society. ISBN 0-375-40233-0.
  4. ↑ Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. pp. 393–394. ISBN 978-0-375-40233-3.
  5. ↑ Flora of North America
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.