''Zeltnera davyi'' is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common name Davy's centaury.

Distribution

The plant is nearly

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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 ...

, where it is known from the coastline around the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

and areas north, as well as from

Santa Cruz Island Santa Cruz Island (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Isla Santa Cruz'', Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Limuw'') is located off the southwestern coast of Ventura, California, United States. It is the largest island in California and largest of the ei ...

, one of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. It is also found in the northern Mexican state of

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 ...

to some extent. It grows in moist

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

habitats on bluffs and dunes, and in coastal woodlands.

Description

''Zeltnera davyi'' is an annual herb not exceeding about 25 centimeters in height, with oval leaves under 2 centimeters long. The

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 a small, open array of flowers, some on very short

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the 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 branch ...

. Each flower has generally five overlapping corolla lobes, each only a few millimeters in length, usually pink or partially pink in color.

Taxonomy

''Zeltnera davyi'' was scientifically described as a subspecies named ''Centaurium exaltatum'' var. ''davyi'' by

Willis Linn Jepson Willis Linn Jepson (August 19, 1867 – November 7, 1946) was a late-19th and 20th century California botanist, professor, conservationist, and writer. A co-founder of the Sierra Club in 1892, he was much honored in later life for his rese ...

in 1925. It was reevaluated as a species by

LeRoy Abrams LeRoy Abrams (1874–1956) was an American botanist and writer. He was a Professor of Botany at Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research un ...

in 1951 and given its present name by Guilhem Mansion in 2004.

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Centaurium davyi''''Centaurium davyi'' — U.C. Photo gallery
davyi Flora of California Flora of Baja California {{Gentianales-stub