Bowlesia incana

Wiggins 1964, Kearney and Peebles 1969, Jepson 2014

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Delicate winter-spring annual herb with stellate hairs throughout; stems weak, 4-45 cm, slender, prostrate and dichotomously branching. Leaves: Opposite, petioled, palmately lobed with 5 or 7 broad lobes, leaves wider than long, 10-23 mm wide, entire to dentate. Flowers: Inconspicuous in unbranched axillary umbels of 2-6 flowers; sepals and petals scalelike, 0.5 mm, the corolla greenish white; peduncles shorter than petioles. Fruits: Green schizocarp splitting into 2 single-seeded segments, each ovate-globose, 1-2 mm, stellate-pubescent, turgid; fruits sessile or nearly so. Ecology: Found in shaded places, under bushes and canopies, and especially beneath shrubs on north-facing arroyo banks, from below 3,500 ft (1067 m); flowers January-June. Distribution: sw US from CA to TX; south to S. Amer. Notes: Distinguished by its pale green color; weak sprawling habit and tendency to form an extensive mat; the downy, star-shaped hairs that cover the entire plant; and 5-lobed leaves. Ethnobotany: In the Andes it is used to make a tea for breakfast, or to treat a cough or intestinal inflammation. Etymology: Bowlesia is named for William Bowles (1705-1780) an Irish naturalist, while incana means grayish or hoary. Synonyms: Bowlesia septentrionalis Editor: SBuckley 2010, AHazelton 2015