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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Annual
General Desc:
Plant can be identified by its long, thin leaves and distinctive flower heads. The leaves have hairs on 1 side and the bracts are shorter than the flowers.
Identification notes: Herbage not hairy to sparsely hairy; leaves narrow, somewhat rigid, turning dark when drying; bracts broadly triangular, do not exceed sepals; sepals rounded, hairy; flowers have male and female parts, not self-pollinating, petals white, spreading.
Height:
To 17 inches
Habitat Description: Moist soils, desert grasslands, openings in pine forests.
Plant Communities:
Interior Chaparral, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest
Elevation: 5000 - 5500 feet
Color:
White
Shape:
Regular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
Y
Flowering Period:
May - Sep
Description:
Leafless flower stalk 3 to 15 inches; hairy; spikes to 2-3/4 inches long; bracts triangular, 1/8 inch long; flowers symmetrical; 4 oval, thin dry sepals, 1/8 inch; 4-lobed, oval corolla, spreading or bending, 1/8 inch long, brown spot at base; 4 stamens.
Leaf Color:
Green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Basal
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Very short and inconspicuous stems; dense basal leaves; blades 2 to 8 inches long, to 1/3 inch wide; linear, angled or tapered to blunt or sharp pointed tip; tapered at base; sparse, long, soft hairs; 3 distinct veins below; margins smooth.
Fruit Color: Light to dark brown
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: Oval or ellipsoid (widest in middle and tapering to each end); 1/8 to 1/4 inch long; breaking at or slightly below middle (circumscissile).
Seed Notes: 2 pear-shaped; 1/8 inch long, 1/16 inch wide; light to dark brown; inner surface deeply concave; thick rim; outer surface pitted like a honeycomb (alveolate).
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