Pseudorontium cyathiferum

Jepson 2012, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous annuals, to 70 cm tall, stems erect, self-supporting and coarsely much-branched throughout, herbage light green and copiously viscid-pilose througout. Leaves: Proximal opposite, most alternate, ovate, 2.5-40 mm long, with obtuse to acute tips, surfaces with conspicuous pinnate veins, becoming gradually reduced distally, borne on petioles 2-21 mm long. Flowers: Cream and purple with purple veins and yellow-spotted throats, these flowers are lightly hairy and have a protruding lower lip with 2 inward-curving petals with pointed tips to either side of the lip as well as 2 erect, uppermost petals with obtuse, acuminate tips, the overall corollas 8-9 mm long, lower lip swollen and closing the throat, corolla tubes not extended at the base, calyx lobes equal, 4-5 mm long, stamens 4, included, staminodes absent, styles included and slightly curving upwards, sparsely glandular-puberulent proximally, stigmas inconspicuous, flowers 1 per leaf axil, all opening, pedicels 1-3 mm long in flower, 2-6 mm long and bending down in fruit. Fruits: Spheric capsules opening by irregular bursting near tip, with chambers equal, fruits spreading or pendant at maturity, with sparsely glandular-puberulent surfaces. Seeds many, cup-shaped, with a large wing. Ecology: Found in washes and on rocky or talus slopes, preferring partial shade, to 1,500 ft (457 m); flowering January-April. Distribution: Arizona, California; Mexico. Notes: Good identifiers for this species are the copiously viscid-pilose herbage and the short-pedicelled or subsessile white to rose-purple flowers. Look for this species under Pseudorontium cyathiferum in Jepson. In Arizona, look for this species in Yuma, Maricopa, and Pima counties. Ethnobotany: Unknown. Synonyms: Pseudorontium cyathiferum, Antirrhinum chytrospermum Editor: LCrumbacher2012 Etymology: Antirrhinum comes from the Greek anti, "like," and rhinon, "nose," because the flowers do seem to have a snout, and cyathiferum comes from the Greek root, kyatheion, meaning "a little cup," so this could mean "bearing some cup-like structure.".

References: J.C. Hickman, ed. The Jepson Manual.ASU specimens.