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 Leaves Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Annual
General Desc:
Small annual herb with long, hairy, spindly stems branching from the plant's base where most of the narrow hairy leaves are clustered. Grows both flat on the ground and upright. Many tiny white flowers grow in elongated open clusters at the stem tips.
Identification notes: Diffusely branched from the base, stems slender, forked spreading hairs; leaves primarily basal; fruit of unwinged flat pods bearing hooked hairs that radiate from the margins; fruits do not open to release seeds when mature.
Height:
4 inches to nearly 1 foot
Habitat Description: Found in areas of brush and scrub, grasslands, floodplains, woodlands, chaparral, rock outcrops, cliffs and ledges that have dry, sandy and gravelly soils often with layers of limestone, sandstone, granite or volcanic rock like basalt.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Riparian
Elevation: Below 5000 feet
Color:
White
Shape:
Inconspicuous in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Mar - May
Description:
The flower stalk has several long, narrow, 1-sided clusters with well-spaced tiny flowers. Flower petals, at times lacking, are white, 1/16 inch long and spoon-shaped; modified leaves (sepals) encasing the flower are about 1/16 inch long and drop early.
Leaf Color:
Green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Basal and alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Basal leaves are egg-shaped to oblong about 1/2 inch long with short stalks and coarse, cross-shaped hairs; stem leaves are stemless, fewer and smaller than the basal leaves. Both basal and stemmed leaves may have smooth or few-toothed margins.
Fruit Color: Green
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: Flat, egg-shaped to oblong (silicle) has 1 seed, is 1/16 to almost 1/8 inch wide with soft hairs and prominent veins on its surface; often has 2 types of white hairs along its margin, larger hairs flat and hooked, smaller hairs branched or lacking.
Seed Notes: Seeds are round, flat, light brown, hairless and about 1/16 inch.
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