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 Leaves Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Desert Botanical Gardens Herbarium Collection, Usage rights: Attribution-Non-Commercial(CC BY-NC) |  Plant Britton, N.L., and A. Brown, 1913, An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols., Kentucky Native Plant Society, New York, USDA, NRCS. 2021. PLANTS DB | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Annual
General Desc:
Powdery in texture, especially on the leaves and flowers. The leaves oval to triangular, generally with a few lobes. Flower heads are spikes of several ball-like clusters of tightly-packed tiny flowers. Sepals and petals enclose the developing fruit.
Identification notes: Erect annual, simple below, slender branches above, sparsely covered with meal-like powder; inconspicuous flowers, green, and clustered; calyx covered extensively with meal-like powder; seeds mature before flowers in same cluster bloom.
Height:
2 to 3 feet
Habitat Description: Wide variety of habitats from desert, cliffs, rocky slopes, and moist shaded areas under aspen, junipers, or pinyons, often in riparian habitats.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest, Riparian, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: 2500 - 9000 feet
Color:
Green
Shape:
Inconspicuous in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Jun - Sep
Description:
Flowers inconspicuous, green, clustered; clusters arranged with seedhead at the tip and beneath the stem, 6 to 8 inches long; 5 petals and 5 sepals completely cover the fruit.
Leaf Color:
Green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Triangular
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Leaves stemmed, alternate, non-aromatic; leafstalk to 3/4 inch; blades oval to triangular, mealy below, without hairs above, slightly longer than wide, upper portion smooth and a pair of teeth or lobes at the base, the lower leaves 3-veined.
Fruit Color: Reddish-brown to black
Fruit Notes: Small oval utricles (thin bladder-like seed vessel), outer wall warty-smooth.
Seed Notes: Round, 1/16 inch diameter; seed coat dark reddish-brown to black (sometimes with light streaks), smooth.
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