Stephanomeria virgata ssp. pleurocarpa (E. Greene) Gottlieb                     Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Native Tall Wreath Plant

                                September Photo 

Plant Characteristics:  Annual, tap-rooted, 0.5-3 m. tall, glabrous or +/- tomentose; branches many, long; lvs. basal rosette generally withered at flowering; cauline alternate, oblong or wider above middle, margin wavy or shallowly lobed; heads solitary or clustered on short stiffly spreading branches; peduncles 3-7 mm.; involucre cylindric, 6-8 mm.; outer phyllaries smaller than inner, erect, appressed; inner phyllaries 6-9; ray fls. 5-6; ligules white above, purplish pink below; fr. ribbed, linear, club-shaped, 2.2-3.6 mm.; pappus 9-30 stiff bristles, plumose throughout, white. 

Habitat:  Common late summer annual in deserted fields and disturbed places below 6000 ft.; from Coastal Strand and Coastal Sage Scrub to Yellow Pine Forest; widely distributed, cismontane; to Ore., Nev., L. Calif., Channel Ids.  July-October.

Name:  Greek stephane, wreath, and meros, division; of uncertain application.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 230).  Latin, virgatus, twiggy. (Jaeger 281).  Greek, pleura, a rib, the side and Gr. karpos, fruit.  (Jaeger 201,47).  Pleurocarpa,  ribbed fruit.

General: Rare in the study area having been found only in Newporter Canyon.  The specimen was collected in March 1994 and was blooming at that time.  I was walking through the still green grass on the south-facing slope of the canyon and stumbled over a dead looking shrubby plant only about 5 inches high but with a few blooms.  I could not imagine what plant would be dried up at this time of the year, so took a specimen home, and while looking at the flower I recognized the genus Stephanomeria.  Examining the plant in the field it seemed to have been cut off, and I suspect that it was mowed down along with the rest of the growth in the canyon in the late spring of 1993.  There apparently was enough life in the plant to carry it through nearly an entire year!  In August, 1994 I walked the canyon again hoping to find a growing specimen but did not find one.  I did find several specimens of S. virgata ssp. virgata in the area where ssp. pleurocarpa was found.  In September 1995, I found several plants with 6 ray flowers and one with 5, 6, and a single 7 flowered bloom; these plants are all ssp. pleurocarpa. (my comments).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 348; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 231.

Photo Ref:  April-May 94 # 14,15; Sept 95 #25,26,28.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.  

First Found:  March 1994.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 462.  

Have Plant specimen.

Last edit 5/15/05.

                             September Photo                                                               March Photo