Chaenactis carphoclinia

Chaenactis carphoclinia

Chaenactis carphoclinia var. carphoclinia in Death Valley, California
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Tribe:	Heliantheae
Genus:	Chaenactis
Species:	C. carphoclinia
Binomial name
*Chaenactis carphoclinia* A.Gray

Chaenactis carphoclinia is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name pebble pincushion. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in rocky and gravelly habitat, such as the California deserts..

Description

The Chaenactis carphoclinia is an annual herb growing an erect, branching stem up to about 60 centimeters in maximum height. The longest leaves are about 10 centimeters long and are usually divided into a few lobes. The inflorescence bears a few flower heads, each up to a centimeter wide. The head is lined with flat, sharp-pointed phyllaries which are reddish in color. The head contains several white or pink-tinted flowers with long, protruding anthers. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters in length tipped with a scaly pappus.

Varieties

There are two varieties of Chaenactis carphoclinia:

C. c. var. carphoclinia is a smaller variety found throughout the species range
C. c. var. piersonii is a larger variety known only from the Santa Rosa Mountains in southern California^[1]

References

↑ California Native Plant Society Rare Plants Inventory

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chaenactis carphoclinia.