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 Leaves Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Frankie Coburn @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Annual or perennial Similar Species: Heliotropium convolvulaceum
General Desc:
Bluish stems; fleshy, grayish-green leaves; hairless plant with leafy and diffusely branched stems mostly lying on ground; usually with paired coils of small, white or purplish-tinged flowers; rhizomes send up scattered shoots.
Identification notes: Blue-tinged, smooth stems; favors moist, saline soils; rhizomes send up scattered shoots; stems diffusely branched, semi-succulent, bluish-whitish coating on foliage; hairless curling (scorpoid) spikes of small white or purplish flowers at the tips.
Height:
4 to 20 inches
Habitat Description: Found in marshy soil, alkaline (chalky) or saline soil, often along wetlands and in irrigated areas.
Plant Communities:
Riparian, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: Below 5000 feet
Color:
White or purplish
Shape:
Regular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
Y
Flowering Period:
Jan - Dec
Description:
In helicoid (spiral-shaped) spikes, these sometimes in clusters of 3 or 4 at branch tips, tightly scorpoid (curled) at the tip in youth; corollas funnel-shaped; 1/16 to 1/4 inch wide, white with yellow spots in center and fading to purplish with age.
Leaf Color:
Grayish-green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
No
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Leaves nearly stalkless, alternate; blades mostly 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches long, 1/16 to 1/4 inch wide; narrow to oblanceolate (narrow base with rounded tips); fleshy, surfaces smooth, dull grayish-green; stems bluish; often purplish in age.
Fruit Color: Brown
Fruit Type: Nutlet
Fruit Notes: Depressed-globose (round with sunken depression) and thick; about 1/16 inch diameter; separating into 4 nutlets; smooth or faintly rugulose (wrinkled) on the back.
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