Adenophyllum wrightii

Adenophyllum wrightii is a rare plant with a conical raised disc and only a few short orange yellow ray flowers. It is an erect herb with pinnatifid leaves with linear segments. The phyllaries each have large easily visible orange glands. The pappus is composed of 2 layers of scales, the inner layer of which have long minutely plumose awns.

FNA 2006, Kearney and Peebles 1969, McDougall 1973

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Erect herbaceous annual to 70 cm tall, ill-smelling. Leaves: Slender pinnatifid leaves with 5-8 linear-filiform, spinulose-tipped segments, the leaves with translucent glands. Flowers: Heads small, radiate, with sparse, ray flowers orange, inconspicuous, disk flowers less than 1 cm high, involucres conical, phyllaries with large, easily visible orange glands, the outer ones not ciliate. Fruits: Achenes ribbed or angled, the pappus in 2 series of 20 scales, the outer without awns, the inner with long, minutely plumose awns, 3-cleft and 3-awned. Ecology: Found in damp areas in sandy, coarse, or alluvial soil in otherwise arid areas, from 5,000-8,500 ft (1524-2591 m); flowering fall. Distribution: Arizona, New Mexico; Mexico. Notes: There is still some uncertainty as to the precise taxa name. Look for this species under Dyssodia neomexicana in the older texts. The keys to this species are the inconspicuous rays and the plumose awns of the inner layer of pappus, the outer phyllaries not ciliate. This plant is considered rare. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Adenophyllum is from the Greek for gland-leaf, while wrightii is named for Charles Wright (1811-1885), a naturalist who collected specimens for Harvard. Synonyms: Dyssodia neomexicana, Dyssodia neomexicana var. neomexicana, Hymenatherum neomexicanum, Thymophylla neomexicana Editor: LCrumbacher 2011