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 Leaves and flowers Patrick Alexander @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 Similar Species: Cordylanthus wrightii var. pauciflora , C. wrightii ssp. tenuifolius
General Desc:
Much-branched, partially parasitic; yellow or yellow and purple club-shaped flowers resembling a bird's beak grow in dense head-like clusters at the branch tips where leaf-like sepals partly hide the flower; green thread-like leaves are deeply divided.
Identification notes: Much-branched annual; finely divided leaves of 3 to 5 divisions; tight head-like clusters of hairy, yellow or yellow and purple flowers at branch tips; flowers fused into a tube, strongly 2-lipped at the top, subtended by 1 or more finely divided bracts.
Height:
To nearly 20 inches
Habitat Description: Found on roadsides, flats, sandy areas on plains and mesas, dry hillsides, often in open pine forests and growing among junipers.
Plant Communities:
Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: 5000 - 7500 feet
Color:
Yellow, yellow and purple
Shape:
Irregular in round clusters
Tubular:
Y
Flowering Period:
Jul - Oct
Description:
The flowering stem is a dense head-like cluster with 2 to 10 flowers (usually 2 or 3) but sometimes solitary. Each flower is about 1/2 to 1 inch long, covered in white hairs, minutely glandular and club-shaped with 2 lips that are nearly equal in size.
Leaf Color:
Green, can be tinged with pink
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Pinnatifid
Leaf Margin:
Dissected
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Leaves and stems often finely hairy but can be smooth; leaves are 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches long, deeply divided into 3 to 5 very narrow thread-like segments all along the stems. Lower leaf margins are 3 to 7 lobed, upper leaf margins smooth or dissected.
Fruit Color: Brown
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: Fruit about 1/2 inch long, dry, slender, flattened, oblong, 2 chambers (cavities) of seeds; fruit opens at maturity to release numerous seeds.
Seed Notes: Seeds are brown, about 1/16 inch long, oblong to egg-shaped, honeycombed (containing many small holes in its structure) with net-like markings on its surface.
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