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desert baccharis, squaw false willow

Habit Shrubs, 50–200 cm (freely branched, broomlike).
Stems

erect, fastigiate, striate-angular, green, glabrous, resinous.

Leaves

cauline (proximal withering and sparse by flowering);

sessile;

blades (1-nerved) broadly oblanceolate to obovate or spatulate, 10–35 × 5–15 mm (thick, firm), bases attenuate, margins entire or irregularly serrate (teeth 1–4, distal leaves entire), apices obtuse to acute, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, resinous.

Involucres

funnelform to campanulate;

staminate 3–5 mm, pistillate 3–5 mm.

Pistillate florets

15–30;

corollas 1.6–2.7 mm.

Staminate florets

24–33;

corollas 2–3.5 mm.

Phyllaries

ovate to linear-lanceolate, 1–5 mm, margins scarious, erose, medians green, apices rounded to acute, glabrous, gland-dotted, resinous.

Heads

(sessile or short-pedunculate on lateral branches) in crowded paniculiform arrays.

Cypselae

1–2 mm, prominently 10-nerved, glabrous;

pappi 1.7–3.1 mm.

2n

= 18.

Baccharis sergiloides

Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct.
Habitat Gravelly or sandy streambeds, dry washes, grasslands
Elevation 100–1800 m (300–5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Baccharis sergiloides is recognized by its fastigiate, broomlike habit, and large obovate leaves that often wither before flowering. It differs from B. sarothroides in its larger leaves, more or less sessile and lateral heads, and smaller florets and fruits.

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

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 33.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Baccharis
Sibling taxa
B. angustifolia, B. bigelovii, B. brachyphylla, B. dioica, B. glomeruliflora, B. glutinosa, B. halimifolia, B. havardii, B. malibuensis, B. neglecta, B. pilularis, B. plummerae, B. pteronioides, B. salicifolia, B. salicina, B. sarothroides, B. texana, B. thesioides, B. vanessae, B. wrightii
Name authority A. Gray: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 83. (1859)
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