Pectis linifolia var. linifolia
erect or ascending, glabrous.
linear to linear-elliptic, 20–60 × 1–4.5 mm, margins with 0–1 pairs of setae, faces glabrous (abaxial dotted with scattered or marginal oil-glands, adaxial often with 1 elongate, medial, subterminal oil-gland).
10–30 mm.
cylindric.
5;
corollas 2–3 mm.
1–3;
corollas 2–3.5 mm (lobes 5, equal, 4 or 5 each with 1 round oil-gland, throats sometimes with additional oil-glands).
distinct, linear, 4.5–7.5 × 0.5 mm (dotted submarginally with linear-elongate to elliptic oil-glands and subapically with 1+ elliptic oil-glands).
borne singly or in diffuse, cymiform arrays.
3.5–5 mm, strigillose or hirtellous (ray cypselae and subtending phyllaries widely spreading at maturity with pappi projecting downward);
pappi of 1–4 stiff, often divaricate, awns 2–3 mm.
= 24.
Pectis linifolia var. linifolia
Pectis linifolia is widespread with disjunctions among populations. Most of it is attributable to the widespread var. linifolia. Variety hirtella S. F. Blake is known only from southern Mexico. The wide distribution of var. linifolia is probably attributable to its adaptations for animal dispersal. The cypselae and spreading pappus awns resemble tiny grappling hooks. Field observations indicate that the cypselae readily cling to fabrics, and presumably they cling equally well to feathers and fur. The plants are autogamous and a single long-distance dispersal event is probably sufficient to establish a new population.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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