''Amsinckia tessellata'' is a species of fiddleneck known by the common names bristly fiddleneck, tessellate fiddleneck, checker fiddleneck, and devil's lettuce. The plant is native to dry regions of western North America, more specifically eastern Washington and Idaho, much of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

, to southwest

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

(U.S.) and northwest

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

and

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

in Mexico, usually below elevation. It is a common plant in many types of habitats, including

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

, oak woodland, xeric scrub, temperate valleys, disturbed areas, and deserts including the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

and

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

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Description

''Amsinckia tessellata'' is an 8–24 inches tall bristly annual herb similar in appearance to other fiddlenecks. Its coiled

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

holds yellow to orange tubular flowers up to a centimeter wide at the corolla, which often has fewer than five lobes. Calyx lobes are not uniform in width and may be fused below the middle. The bloom period is March to June.

References

External links

''Amsinckia tessellata'' - Photo galleryJepson Manual Treatment
tessellata Flora of British Columbia Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of Arizona Flora of Baja California Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of New Mexico Flora of Sonora Flora of Utah Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants described in 1874 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Boraginoideae-stub