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 Plant - spring Little Thumb ButteSue Smith |  Flowers Little Thumb ButteSue Smith |  Leaves Little Thumb ButteSue Smith |  Plant - spring Yavapai RanchSue Smith |  Fruit Little Thumb ButteSue Smith | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial Similar Species: Lesquerella sp.
General Desc:
Small, ground-hugging plant arising from a woody base, forms compact mound. Non-woody stems simple or branching from the base. Stems and leaves silvery-gray and densely hairy, hairs star-like (8 hairs fused at the base).
Identification notes: Plant loosely tufted, arises from a woody base, strongly branched, leafy stems form a compact mound. Bright yellow, fragrant, 4-petaled flowers. Herbage silvery-gray and densely hairy. Styles shorter than the mature hairy fruits; fruits on curved stems.
Height:
Up to 7 inches tall
Habitat Description: Found on rocky slopes and mesas. Sandy and gravelly soils, limey knolls or limestone chip, often in open stands of sagebrush-pinyon, pinyon-juniper, Gambel oak and sometimes ponderosa pine.
Plant Communities:
Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest
Elevation: 3500 - 7300 feet
Color:
Bright yellow
Shape:
Regular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Apr - Jun
Description:
Fragrant flowers, egg-shaped sepals, 1/8 to 1/4 inch; the 4 spreading petals narrow at their attachment, 1/4 to 1/2 inch across. Clusters of flowers on short racemes (flowers borne on short stalks along a central stem) but clusters often appear rounded.
Leaf Color:
Grayish-green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Basal and opposite
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Base leaves densely tufted, blade-like, attached at narrow end, reflexed (bent backwards); margins entire, wavy, or shallowly toothed; pointed at the tips,; stem leaves are reduced in size up the stems, linear (narrow).
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: Inflated round or egg-shaped to ellipsoid capsules, 1/4 inch long, valves hairy outside, sometimes sparsely hairy inside, tufts of hair directly attach to the fruit.
Seed Notes: Seeds flattened.
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