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 Plants Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial
General Desc:
Perennial herb to sub-shrub, stoutly rhizomatous and forming colonies; usually thorny at the base but often thornless above; stems green, erect; lateral branches sharply ascending, wand-like.
Identification notes: Ray and disc flowers. Stems form erect, much-branched, almost leafless, pale green, broom-like clumps, deep seated rhizomes, 1 to 9 feet tall. Basal leaves long and narrow to spatula shaped, to 2 inches long, upper leaves tiny and scale-like.
Height:
1 to 9 feet
Habitat Description: Found in moist, saline soil, on riverbanks, bottomlands, saline flats, ditches, and irrigation channels.
Plant Communities:
Riparian, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: 1000 - 4200 feet
Color:
White and yellow
Shape:
Daisy or dandelion-like not in clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
May - Oct
Description:
Flowers are loosely branched, mature from bottom up; ray flowers 20 to 33, white, and 1/4 inch; disc flowers 20 to 70, corollas yellow; whorl of bracts wrapped around the flower head, 1/4 inch high, lance-shaped, with thin, transparent margins.
Leaf Color:
Pale green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
Y
Hairs:
No
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Leaves attached directly to stem without a supporting stalk, early withering before flowering, 1 prominent vein, inverted lance-shaped with narrow end at attachment, up to 2 inches long, margins smooth or rarely have 1 to 2 pairs of small teeth.
Fruit Color: White to tan
Fruit Type: Achene
Fruit Notes: Small, dry fruit is smooth, hairless, 1/4 inch long, spindle to cylinder-shaped, slightly compressed, and 5-veined, topped with 30 to 60 persistent, white to tan sepals of short, stiff bristles usually in 1 to 2 series, plus shorter outer bristles.
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