Turtleback, Velvet turtleback
Psathyrotes ramosissima
Color: Yellow
Common name: Turtleback, or Velvet turtleback
Latin name: Psathyrotes ramosissima
Family: ASTERACEAE
Height: 2-6 inches
Description: Turtleback is a low, neatly mounded plant producing spreading stems which are hairless to densely woolly in texture. The knobby inflorescence is lined with woolly gray-green phyllaries with dull points that curve outward. It contains several hairy yellow disc florets.
Leaf: Leaves are borne on long stalks. The leaf blade is variable in shape, generally roughly rounded, and up to 2 cm long. It has a wavy, bluntly toothed edge and a bumpy, velvety surface coated in woolly fibers and shiny hairs. It is brownish to gray-green to very pale green in color.
Range: s East of Sierra Nevada, Desert
Habitat: Sandy creosote-bush scrub
Elevation: generally < 1000 m.
Flowering time: Mar–Jun
Notes: Psathyrotes ramosissima, a dicot, is an annual or perennial herb that is native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America. This photo was taken on April 8, 2004 in Mule Canyon north of Barstow, San Bernardino County, California.
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