Psathyrotes ramosissima

Baldwin 2014 (Jepson Online), FNA 2006, Kearny and Peebles 1979

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Low annual herbs, 3-30 cm high; stems divaricately branching, lanate, scurfy-pubescent, very leafy. Leaves: Alternate and petiolate; blades rounded-deltate to suborbiculate, 1-2 cm long by 1-3 cm wide, the margins with rounded teeth. Flowers: Flower heads yellow, discoid, solitary, on peduncles 3 mm to 5 cm long; involucre (ring of bracts wrapped around the flower head) broadly turbinate to campanulate, 6-10 mm high, the bracts (phyllaries) 15-24, in 2 distinct series; outer series of 5-6 phyllaries persistent, the tips spoon-shaped and curling back; inner series of 10-18 phyllaries deciduous, with lanceolate, erect tips; florets 16-32, all discs, the corollas pale yellow, 5 mm long. Fruits: Achenes 2-3 mm long, topped with a pappus of 120-140 subequal bristles in 2-4 series, 3-4 mm long. Ecology: Found in sandy soils and desert pavements, below 3,000 ft (914 m); flowers mostly in the spring, and otherwise sporadically, following rains. Distribution: AZ, CA, and NV; south to n MEX (Baja California, Sonora). Notes: This low velvety annual is quite distinct; look for the mounded, -turtle-shaped- growth form; the round, furry leaves with impressed veins and rounded teeth along the edges; the solitary discoid flower heads with yellow florets, the flower heads wrapped by 2 series of velvety phyllaries, the outer series strongly curling outward and the inner series hugging the flower head. Ethnobotany: Shoshoni and Paiute used the plant medicinally, to treat headaches, various intestinal troubles, liver problems, venereal diseases, and tubercular cough; a poultice was applied to sores, cuts, swellings, insect bites, and snakebites; dry bits were chewed for toothache. Etymology: Psathyrotes from the Greek psathyros, for brittle, fragile, looseness [allusion unclear]; ramosissima means many-branched. Synonyms: Tetradymia ramosissima Editor: AHazelton 2015