Tiquilia canescens

Welsh et al. 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969, MacDougall 1973, Jepson eFlora (Kelley 2017)

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Low, spreading, suffrutescent perennial, forming mats 20-60 cm in diameter; older stems woody and gnarled, 5-25 cm long. Leaves: Often clustered at nodes along the stems; on short petioles 2-7 mm long; blades ovate to elliptic, thick, 7-10 mm long and 2-7 mm wide, the base and tips obtuse to broadly acute, and the margins revolute (rolled toward leaf underside); surfaces densely covered with white hairs, making the leaves appear whitish or silvery. Flowers: Pink to white and fairly inconspicuous; usually sessile and solitary in axils of leaves; calyx 4-6 mm long, with 5 long-attenuate lobes, these fused at the base and white-hairy throughout; corolla funnel-shaped, 5-6 mm long, pinkish, rose, or rarely white. Fruits: Spherical, 2-3 mm diameter, splitting into 4 bony nutlets, these 2 mm high, minutely tubercled, glabrous or hairy at maturity. Ecology: Found on dry slopes, often in limestone soils, below 5,500 ft (1067-1676 m); flowers March-September. Distribution: s CA, s NV, s UT, AZ, s NM, s TX; south to s MEX. Notes: Distinctive with its low, spreading growth form; woody, sometimes blackish stems; small, densely hairy, oval-shaped leaves with pointed tips; and small pink funnel-shaped flowers buried in the leaves. Similar to T. plicata and T. nuttallii, but those species have leaves with deeply impressed veins, making the leaves look pleated (plicate). T. hispidissima has narrower leaves covered with with bristle-like hairs, rather than the white canescence on this species. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genus have uses. Etymology: Tiquilia is derived from a vernacular name for this genus from the original collections in Peru, while canescens means covered in short gray or white hairs. Synonyms: Coldenia canescens Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015, AHazelton 2017