Leuciva dealbata

Leaves: petioles 1-5+ mm; blades 7-10(-18+) × 1-6(-12) cm overall, lobes 3-5+ mm wide. Peduncles 1-10+ mm. Involucres 2-3+ mm. Phyllaries: outer 5 sparsely strigose or glabrous abaxially, margins ciliolate, inner ciliolate. Pistillate florets: corollas 0.1-0.7 mm, or 0. Functionally staminate florets: corollas 1.5-2 mm. Cypselae 1.5-2 mm. 2n = 72.

Flowering Jul-Nov. Calcareous desert soils; 1000-2000 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas).

FNA 2006, Martin and Hutchins 1980, Allred and Ivey 2012

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herbs, 20-60 cm tall; stems erect, branching from base, leafy, floccose-woolly. Leaves: Mostly alternate and cauline, on short, margined petioles, these 1-5 mm long; blades laciniately pinnatifid to toothed, lanceolate to oblanceolate in outline, 7-10 cm long and 1-6 cm wide, finely whitish-tomentose. Flowers: Flower heads discoid or disciform, whitish, subsessile and arranged in long, narrow panicles; involucres hemispheric, 2-4 mm in diameter, the bracts (phyllaries) in 1-2 series; outer series of 5 phyllaries obovate-orbicular with mucronate tips and ciliolate margins, herbaceous, sparsely strigose or glabrous below; inner series of phyllaries may be missing; if present, they are scarious (papery-textured) to membranous; receptacles convex and lacking paleae; flower heads may have an outer ring of up to 5 pistillate florets with whitish, tubular corollas; remaining florets are functionally staminate, 5-12 or more per head, the corollas whitish, funnel-shaped, 5-lobed. Fruits: Achenes pear-shaped, 2 mm long, densely gland-dotted; with no pappus attached to the top. Ecology: Found on calcareous desert soils, often on dry sites from 3,500-6,500 ft (1067-1981 m); flowers July-November. Distribution: Southern half of NM, extreme SE AZ and w TX; south to MEX. Notes: Distinguished by its densely tomentose herbage and mostly narrow, irregularly cleft pinnatifid leaves. This species could easily be mistaken for an Ambrosia sp. because of its large divided leaves, ray-less whitish small flower heads, and long narrow panicles; however this species lacks the spiny seeds that distinguish Ambrosia spp. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Leuciva comes from Greek leuc- for white, and the genus Iva; dealbata means whitened. Synonyms: Iva dealbata, Euphrosyne dealbata Editor: Sbuckley 2010, AHazelton 2017