Flora of North America species comparison

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Chaenactis artemisiifolia

artemisia leaf chaenactis, white pincushion
Habit Plants (15–)25–90(–200) cm.
Leaves

basal (withering) and cauline, 3–15(–20) cm;

largest blades ± plane, not succulent;

primary lobes mostly 5–10 pairs, ultimate lobes ± crowded, antrorse, lanceolate to elliptic, plane.
Peduncles

1.5–6 cm.
Involucres

± hemispheric, mostly 10–15 mm diam.
Receptacles

paleae 0.
Corollas

5–7 mm.
Phyllaries

longest 7–10(–12) mm, ± densely villous, not or sparsely glandular;

apices (all) erect, ± green, acute or scarcely acuminate, not aristate, ± plane.
Cypselae

compressed, 4–7 mm;

pappi 0 or coroniform (of ± 10 scales, longest 0.1–0.5 mm).
2n

= 16.

Chaenactis artemisiifolia
Phenology Flowering Apr–early Jul.
Habitat Dry canyons, open slopes, often over granitoid rocks, locally abundant in chaparral burns or other recovering disturbances
Elevation 80–1600 m (300–5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In the flora area, Chaenactis artemisiifolia is known from the Transverse and Peninsular ranges and seaward valleys of southwestern California. It is fire-adapted; its germination is significantly enhanced by exposure to biomass smoke (J. E. Keeley and C. J. Fotheringham 1998).

Chaenactis lacera Greene, the eighteenth species of the genus, is known from coastal portions (including islands) of the western Vizcaíno Desert in Baja California and Baja California Sur, Mexico. Forms of C. artemisiifolia sometimes resemble C. lacera in coastal southern California (P. Stockwell 1940), where C. lacera could eventually be introduced. Besides the key characteristics above, C. lacera differs from C. artemisiifolia by its largest leaf blades broadly ± elliptic, 2–3-pinnately lobed, ultimate lobes remote, recurved to retrorse, ± linear, involute (leaf blades appearing ± skeletal).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 402.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Chaenactidinae > Chaenactis > sect. Acarphaea
Sibling taxa
C. alpigena, C. carphoclinia, C. cusickii, C. douglasii, C. evermannii, C. fremontii, C. glabriuscula, C. macrantha, C. nevadensis, C. nevii, C. parishii, C. santolinoides, C. stevioides, C. suffrutescens, C. thompsonii, C. xantiana
Synonyms Acarphaea artemisiifolia
Name authority (Harvey & A. Gray) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 74. (1874)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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