Neogaerrhinum filipes

Jepson 2012, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Vine General: Herbaceous, vine-like annuals, stems to 1 m long or more, trailing or climbing, often clinging by twining pedicels or branchlets, glabrous except stem woolly at base. Leaves: Proximal generally opposite, becoming alternate distally, linear to ovate, 6-50 mm long, generally reduced distally on stem, surfaces with conspicuous, pinnate veins, petioles when present 0-5 mm long. Flowers: Bright yellow, flowers 5-lobed and 2-lipped, the lower lip rounded on top and larger than the upper lip, the lower lip sometimes with dark or reddish-brown spots, plants also with minute, white cleistogamous (closed) flowers, corollas of opening flowers 10-13 mm long, calyxes glabrous, with equal lobes 3-4.5 mm long, stamens 4, generally included, staminodes absent, styles included, straight or curved, glabrous or glandular-puberulent to near tip, stigmas inconspicuous, flowers borne solitary in axils, plants usually with both opening and cleistogamous flowers, pedicels thread-like, 3-10 cm long, twining, subtending branchlets generally absent. Fruits: Spheric capsules 3-5 mm long with equal chambers, fragile, opening by irregular bursting on sides. Seeds ovoid to spheric and to roughly 1 mm long, black with 4-6 thick, wing-like ridges. Ecology: Found on shrubs, debris, on sandy plains and slopes, generally in washes, to 2,500 ft (762 m); flowering February-May. Distribution: Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah. Notes: Look for this species also under the old name, Antirrhinum filipes. This twining, bright yellow snap-dragon has maroon or dark brown spots on its lower lip. Ethnobotany: Unknown. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher2012 Etymology: The meaning of neogaerrhinum is unknown, and filipes comes from the prefix fili- meaning "threadlike" and pes, Latin for "foot," hence "with threadlike stalks".