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 Leaf Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: CC BY-SA 3.0 (Attribution=StareAlike) |  Plant Gregory Gust @http://swbiodiversity.org. Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial) | | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Annual Similar Species: Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia
General Desc:
Aromatic plant with thin, hairy, densely glandular stems. Dark green leaves are feather-like, hairy, deeply divided into 7 to 9 very rounded lobes. Tiny bell-like bluish-purple or white flowers with yellow throats grow in loose clusters at the stem tips.
Identification notes: Delicate annual, does well in years of higher moisture; can form small mats, often in shade, dies back as soil dries. Leaves divided into 7 to 9 very rounded lobes; tiny bluish-purple flowers; hairy sepals enclose the capsule when mature; seeds all alike.
Height:
To 12 inches or less
Habitat Description: Found in canyons, hillsides, rocky crevices, washes and slopes. Often found growing in the shade of shrubs and other sheltered areas and in moist soil. In years of abundant moisture it often forms colorful mats but dies quickly when the soil dries out.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Riparian
Elevation: Below 4000 feet
Color:
Bluish-purple or white, yellow throat
Shape:
Bell-shaped in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Feb - May
Description:
Flowers grow in elongated clusters of 4 to 12 on short, hairy, glandular flower stalks; flower about 1/2 inch wide and has 5 united petals. There are 5 upright leaf-like rounded sepals (calyx) beneath the flower petals covered with glandular hairs.
Leaf Color:
Dark green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Pinnatifid
Leaf Margin:
Lobed
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate and opposite
Leaves Clasp:
Y
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Most of the leaves grow on the lower stem. These have an opposite attachment and leaf stalks that are winged (having a flat margin that extends outward). Leaves on the upper stem are smaller with an alternate attachment and ear-like clasping leaf stalks.
Fruit Color: Green
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: Fruit is a green capsule 1/16 to 1/8 inch wide with short stiff hairs that is enclosed in the hairy leaf-like sepals beneath the flower. It splits into 2 seed-bearing structures (carpels) that are egg-shaped (but broader at the tip) to release seeds.
Seed Notes: The seed is about 1/16 inch, black or dark brown, oblong to egg-shaped and circular when immature. At maturity, it becomes curved-oblong and appears worm-like with rough, net-like indentations and diagonal ridges. There are 7 to 15 seeds per fruit.
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