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 Flowers and fruit Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Paul Rothrock @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |  Fruit Kirstin Phillips @ @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Attribution-Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC) | | | |
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Origin:
Introduced
Life Cycle:
Biennial or annual
General Desc:
Slender taproots; stems erect, usually solitary and simple at the base, branching distally; herbage hairy with soft hairs to hairless; plants with pungent, watery sap; flowers white, very small on long narrow stems at branch tips.
Identification notes: Diffusely branched annual; leaves lance-like, narrowest at base, upper leaves attached directly to stems; flower stems erect, not flattened, hairs soft if present; flowers small, white, petals shorter than sepals; stamens 2; small round flat seed pods.
Height:
1/2 to 1-1/2 feet
Habitat Description: Waste places, disturbed sites, prairies, fields, pastures, grasslands, chaparral, meadows, sagebrush flats, floodplains, gravelly hillsides, rock crevices, seashores, sandy places, open mesas, and roadsides.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Riparian, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: Below 8000 feet
Color:
White
Shape:
Regular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Apr - Aug
Description:
Very small and inconspicuous in elongated clusters at branch tips; 4 oblong sepals, 1/16 to 1/4 inch long; 4 simple petals, forming a cross, less than 1/16 inch long; petals sometimes absent.
Leaf Color:
Green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Toothed
Leaf Attachment:
Basal and alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Basal leaves 1-1/2 to 2-3/4 inches long, sparse short hairs, wither early; alternate stem leaves, shorter than basal leaves, less than 1/16 wide, linear or narrowly reverse lance-shaped; tips sharply pointed; all leaves more or less toothed or divided.
Fruit Color: Brown
Fruit Notes: Flattened, egg-shaped to circular, about 1/16 to 1/8 inch long and 1/16 to 1/8 inch wide, with a shallow notch style (upward extension of the ovary) that remains attached at the tip.
Seed Notes: Oval 1/16 inch long.
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