''Psathyrotes ramosissima'' is a species of flowering plant in the
aster family
Asteraceae () is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger fam ...
known by the common names velvet turtleback
and turtleback. It is native to the southwestern United States.
Description
It is a low, neatly mounded plant producing spreading stems which are hairless to densely woolly in texture. It grows to tall and has a
turpentine
Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...
odour.
Leaves are borne on long
petioles. The leaf blade is roundish, veined, and up to long.
It has a toothed edge and a velvety surface coated in woolly fibres and shiny hairs; it is brownish to grayish or pale green in color.
The knobby
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 ...
is wide
and lined with woolly gray-green
phyllaries
In botanical terminology, a phyllary, also known an involucral bract or tegule, is a single bract of the involucre of a composite flower. The involucre is the grouping of bracts together. Phyllaries are reduced leaf-like structures that form one o ...
with dull points that curve outward. It contains several hairy yellow disc florets.
The fruit is an
achene
An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...
tipped with a large
pappus of over 100 long, fine bristles.
Distribution and habitat
It is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in
desert scrub
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (Ancient Greek 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habitat ...
.
References
External links
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Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
Helenieae
{{Helenieae-stub