Rafinesquia neomexicana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Common names include desert chicory,[2] plumeseed, or New Mexico plumeseed.[1][3] It has white showy flowers, milky sap, and weak, zigzag stems, that may grow up through other shrubs for support.[2] It is an annual plant (completes its life cycle in a single season) found in dry climate areas of the southwestern deserts of the US and northwestern deserts of Mexico.[2]
| Rafinesquia neomexicana | |
|---|---|
| |
| Flowering plant near Amboy, California | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Rafinesquia |
| Species: | R. neomexicana
|
| Binomial name | |
| Rafinesquia neomexicana | |
Description
editThe annual plants are gray-green with sparse foliage and are between 15 and 50 centimetres (6 and 19+1⁄2 inches) high.[3] Basal leaves are 5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 in) long and pinnate with narrow lobes while leaves further up the stem are smaller.[3]
White flowerheads appear at the end of the stems between May and June in the species native range.[3]
Flower heads occur singly at the tip of branches.[2] The flower heads are composed of strap-shaped ray flowers, growing longer toward the outer portion of the head, and collectively creating the appearance of a single flower as in other sunflower family plants.[2] The outer flowers in the head extend well beyond the 1.5–2.5 cm (1⁄2–1 in) long phyllaries (bracts enclosing the flower head before opening).[2]
Similar species include R. californica and Calycoseris wrightii.[4]
Distribution and habitat
editIn the United States the species occurs in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.[1] It occurs in the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora.[5]
It is found in the Mojave Desert, and in the Sonoran Deserts including the Colorado Desert sub-region.
It occurs in sandy or gravelly soils in creosote bush scrub and Joshua Tree woodland plant communities in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert, from California to Texas and northern Mexico.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c "The PLANTS Database". USDA, NRCS. 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
- ^ a b c d e f g Pam Mackay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, 2nd Edition, p135
- ^ a b c d Spellenberg, R. (1979). Field Guide to North American Wildflowers - Western Region. National Audubon Society. ISBN 0-375-40233-0.
- ^ Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. pp. 393–394. ISBN 978-0-375-40233-3.
- ^ Flora of North America
External links
edit- Jepson Manual Treatment of Rafinesquia neomexicana
- Rafinesquia neomexicana — UC Photo gallery
Media related to Rafinesquia neomexicana at Wikimedia Commons
